Issue 127 : February - March 2003
Spaghetti Monster
Teutonic Tourer
Jet-powered Tourer
Lightning Muscle
Mountain Men
MAG Campaign Issues
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Spaghetti Monster
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MAG Campaign Issues
Dark Visor Clear VisionThe "Clear Vision" campaign has been launched to reverse the flawed decision taken by Roads Minister David Jamieson to sustain the Department for Transport (DfT) prohibition of dark visors, which have a minimum, light transmittance of 18%. "Clear Vision" upholds the majority decision taken by MAG members at the Groups' Annual Conference in 2002 supporting the use of dark visors by motorcyclists. The campaign will concentrate on writing letters to MPs ensuring they are aware of motorcyclists' views and the strength of feeling against the decision taken by the DfT. Despite the overwhelming recommendations of MAG members, riders generally and the majority of rider bodies, for a change in the legislation to permit the daytime use of Dark Visors, the Government has capitulated to the illusions of the safety lobby. The document contains all the information you require from background information to a sample letter to send to your MP, where to find him or her and how to become more active in motorcycling issues. The response to the consultation and lobbying on Dark Visors was done by the book. MAG played its part in influencing all members on the National Motorcycle Council (NMC) but the DfT clung to the misguided notion that riders would misuse dark visors by wearing them at night. For this reason they have sustained the prohibitionof dark visors despite the major safety benefit they offer in bright sunshine." MAG remains convinced that the wearing of dark visors especially in conditions of glare would not present a danger to other vulnerable road users MAG's Position: Dark Visor use in daytime conditions can help to minimise the danger of disorientating glare. There are positive benefits in terms of rider behaviour to be had from dark visor use, specifically that one aspect of venturesome behaviour (risk taking) may be reduced. In other words riders are less likely to proceed into dangerous situations on which they might take a chance on the spur of the moment if they can see properly and possibly identify a hazard that would have been camouflaged by glare. We believe a standard for dark visors should be determined urgently and implemented by way of the necessary legislation, thereby removing the current source of confusion and putting an end to unnecessary prosecutions. MAG will also continue to work for a sensible solution to this problem through its positions on Government task forces and standards bodies. Our aim is to persuade the Minister to reverse the flawed decision and trust motorcyclists to use dark visors appropriately "Clear Vision" is also available at www.mag-uk.org.  Bright Ideas ?Streetbiker welcomes new voice Giles Green who mounts this soap box to question the notion that bright is always right...What is it about lights? At the sharp end of my bike there is a headlamp which I use to see where I am going when it is otherwise dark. At the blunt end of my bike there is a taillamp to make me more noticeable to drivers behind and a stoplamp to indicate when I apply the brakes. My car has a similar arrangement. Both vehicles are also fitted with direction indicators, but that is not the subject of this particular gripe: what bothers me is the way lights have become weapons. How often do you see a basic model Corsa or Ka with its lights blazing in the middle of the day? And when were you last dazzled in broad daylight by the approach of a Bentley with its lights on? It just does not happen. OK, the Corsa or Ka may very well be sporting rear foglamps in light drizzle or any time for a week afterwards, but that is just a matter of judgement in the first instance and forgetfulness in the second. And they are also quite likely to blind you temporarily but inadvertently by flashing their thanks if you give way. But there are cars whose drivers seem to find it necessary to drive around with their lights blazing at all times. Not only headlamps but front foglamps. Does anyone know the purpose of front foglamps? I have covered nearly three quarters of a million road miles over nearly thirty years, and in that time I have had six cars which had front foglamps, none of which was any use at all for lighting my way, and all of which seemed to me to be completely superfluous because every one of those cars had front headlamps as well. My last four cars have all had front foglamps operated by the same switch as the rear foglamps, so in poor visibility, I have to choose between being less visible to those behind and dazzling those ahead. And then there are the drivers whose dazzling approach precipitates a flash of protest from an oncoming driver or rider and who responds by scorching the retinas of everyone in front for a quarter of a mile with a searing attack from four or five spotlamps, arranged in a row across the "nudge bars" (bulshitese for biker manglers) or, in the case of a pick up, probably two more at cab roof level. So much for the aggressively arrogant car driver, what about those who are just unthinkingly, perhaps to some extent unknowingly blinding all who cross their paths with xenons? I do not doubt for a moment that the additional illumination provided by these new lamps is of great benefit for seeing where you are going when you are travelling at speed in the dark on an empty road. But for many of us much of the time, seeing where we are going is not the function of the headlamps it is the function of the streetlamps and, certainly where I live, there are precious few empty roads. So the brilliance of xenon headlamps is utterly wasted and, worse still, dazzles oncoming drivers and riders, making it almost impossible to see any obstacles such as unlit skips, pedestrians etc and, of no little concern to bikers, the surface of the road. I do have the impression that the worst offenders for blinding me with xenon are Mercedes, followed closely by BMW with Range Rovers and their ilk. It is probably because the expensive end of the motoring market most readily carries the additional however much it costs to fit these damned things and the fact that beemers are readily identifiable in the dark by their horseshoe-shaped driving lamps. But what about bikers? I have read with interest, the arguments against daylight driving lights and, like so often before, I am almost overcome with a feeling of dull frustration that my tax is being spent dreaming up rules to guard against a theoretical risk and to direct those devoid of common sense. I always ride with my headlamp switched off in daylight, except where, in my judgement, they need to be on. This judgement rests on twenty eight years on the roads, during which time I've travelled the equivalent of twenty nine times round the world. My decision to use lights is based on my assessment of the traffic, the road, the weather and other factors such as trees meeting overhead creating a dark tunnel. Then I switch on my headlamp until I am in the clear again. But so often, I am confronted, by the full force of one (or more often two) motorcycle headlamps dazzling me in broad daylight, either from ahead or via the rear view mirrors. What is the rider doing? He can't need the light to see where he is going so I can only think it is to make sure everyone sees him coming, even if it means blinding them to everything else on the road. If this is a statement of some sort, I don't get it, it tells me nothing, but if it is not a statement but a precaution because he is riding injudiciously and is depending on other road users to make additional allowances, I think it tells us all something. Giles Green  Micro chipped number plates by next year !No hiding place for tax dodgersstory by Michael KempElectronic number plates, which will be "read" 24 hours a day by roadside microwave beacons and cameras, are to be introduced in 2004. By the end of 2007, the Government aims to have them on every road vehicle in Britain. Each plate will have a microchip containing details of the vehicle's make, type, colour, engine, transmission, date and place of manufacture; its registered keeper; MoT status and insurance validity. False plates will automatically raise an alert through the police national computer in Hendon and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea. Computers will be programmable to find any wanted vehicle. It will mean new number plates being fitted to more than 29.2 million vehicles. The chips will cost about £1 each and a set of electronic number plates up to £35, or more if a one-off tax is applied to make motorists pay for the roadside "reading" infrastructure. The DVLA, which drew up the plans, is proposing that "the whole system is financed by taxation". The electronic readers, planned to be on every road, will cost "an estimated average £1,000 each when purchased in quantity and placed on existing poles and gantries". A probable installation cost of about £100 million will be "dramatically reduced" by sharing existing infrastructure. Marked and unmarked police cars will also be fitted with the readers. Electronic number plates will be fitted by new vehicle suppliers and MoT testing stations. From the start of 2003, all number plate producers will be registered by law, under the Crime Prevention Act, and plates supplied only on production of a vehicle registration document and proof of entitlement by the vehicle's keeper. By December 2007, the DVLA aims to introduce drive-in, paperless automated relicensing, which will spell the end for windscreen-mounted tax discs. The electronic plates have been developed by Birmingham-based 'Hills Number Plates,' which makes 50 per cent of Britain's registration tags. A spokesman said: "Relicensing will be like buying a drive-in hamburger. You will not need to leave the wheel. Just hand over a credit card and the whole process will be done electronically." Cash is expected to be accepted. "Front and rear microchip number plates are now fully developed at an extra cost of no more than £1 each to the motor trade. Normally a microchip costs about £5, but by ordering tens of millions we have negotiated a considerably lower price. "Hills is working closely with the DVLA and expects the go-ahead for electronic number plates in 2004. Microchip readers will be on the Trafficmaster (driver traffic information) radio masts that cover the main road network, and certain camera sites." By 2004, the DVLA aims to have merged driver, vehicle and insurance records into a "single or virtually single" database from which the number-plate microchips will be programmed. New regulations will compel motorists and dealers to inform the DVLA within one working week of vehicle ownership changes. Streetbiker comment: Well here we are folks, Big Brother has arrived, and faster than even MAG thought possible. Now tax dodgers, criminals and terrorist have got to be stopped, no argument there, but the potential for zero tolerance on speeding for example raises a worrying scenario. More than ever road users have got to make it clear just how close down their necks they want Big Brother to be breathing. Every biker who has ever thought MAG was just a bunch of scaremongers - think again. The rabid control freaks can be stopped, the camera code proved that but it will take sustained and resolute campaigning. If you have ever thought that maybe MAG might just might be worth joining - you were right.  |
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