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BMF WARNS ON ACTION AGAINST BIKERS
07 May 2004 - BMF
BMF members will know that the BMF has expressed a real concern that reckless riding by a significant if small minority of riders does irreparable damage to motorcycling.
Over the past two years it has warned of the consequences and raised these concerns both with the industry and with the motorcycle press with some success, but not obviously not sufficiently to reach those riders who will always ignore such advice. Now a high profile campaign has been launched by a Yorkshire group called BAND (Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger), a group of residents and concerned individuals including actor Brian Blessed and Lord (Brian) Rix, cricketers Geoffrey Boycott and Fred Trueman, political figures William Hague and Bernard Ingham, TV personality Alan Titchmarsh, journalist Janet Street-Porter, actress Zoë Wanamaker and numerous MP’s and Lords.
Their campaign has featured in ‘The Independent’ and on the Radio 2 Jeremy Vine programme today 7th May.
Quotes from BAND are lurid e.g. “… anyone who knows the area cannot fail to be horrified by the sheer noise and frightening carnage inflicted on its roads every summer by the madness of literally hundreds of speeding bikers.”
“This is the route known as the ‘Yorkshire TT’. It is the route where speed records are set, to be recorded and boasted about on biker web-sites. And these are the same biker web sites that reassure their readers about the minimal police presence on the road. We want a 50 mph limit set, and we want it enforced.”
While the BMF in no way supports talk of bans and unnecessary speed limits, it does not deny that there is a problem and that there is a case to answer both in North Yorkshire and elsewhere. The BMF’s role is to ‘promote and protect the interests of road riders’, not those who don’t care for themselves, the law of the land or other road-users and therefore the BMF supports North Yorkshire’s Police response e.g.:
From North York’s Police statement 28th April:
''We share BAND''s view of the minority who tarnish the image of the majority by anti-social behaviour such as stunt riding or using illegally noisy race exhausts. These activities belong on the race track not on public roads, and we act firmly against those whose activities impinge on the quality of life of other people.
''The force''s Bike Safe education strategy will continue, but the policing emphasis has shifted towards enforcement. Our view is that there is space enough for road users, residents and visitors to enjoy the beauties of North Yorkshire together, and there is no reason why we should tolerate the small, selfish minority who spoil the county for others, as well as risking their own lives for nothing better than a brief burst of speed.''
The full text of the BAND press release, signatories’ letter and the Police response is copied below.
PRESS RELEASE Issued on behalf of BAND 28th April 2004
FAMOUS NAMES CALL FOR ACTION OVER NATIONAL PARK THREAT
The menace to one of Britain’s most beautiful national parks from speeding bikers and heavy goods vehicles is highlighted today in a public call for action by a group of high profile individuals drawn from sport, churches, theatre, literature, film and television, sport, politics and society.
The area under threat is the North York Moors National Park, and many of the celebrities and public figures calling for action have Yorkshire roots or strong emotional links to the region. Today the group has issued an open letter to editors, supporting the demands of local pressure group BAND (Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger) for urgent action by police and Highway authorities to counter the dangers and environmental damage posed by speeding bikers and heavy commercial vehicles on the main road through the National Park.
Among the signatories are actors Patrick Stewart, Brian Blessed and Lord (Brian) Rix, cricketers Geoffrey Boycott and Fred Trueman, political figures William Hague and Bernard Ingham, TV personality Alan Titchmarsh, writer Dame Antonia (A.S.) Byatt and local public figures Lord Feversham as well as the acting Dean of York Minster, Reverend Canon Glyn Webster, the recently retired Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle and the Rt Reverend Ambrose Griffiths.
Their complaints concentrate on a 15-mile stretch of the B1257 between Helmsley, about an hour (at the speed limit), north of York, and Stokesley near Middlesbrough. BAND''s five principal demands are: S To reduce the speed limit to a maximum of 50 mph on all roads within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park
· To seek a significant enhancement of traffic police presence and road safety enforcement on the B1257 · To seek the introduction of speed cameras on the B1257 · To seek police action against illegal noise pollution by motorbikes within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park · To reduce the volume of heavy commercial vehicles transiting the Park Chairman of BAND, Ken Braithwaite said: “We are delighted that this campaign has attracted such powerful and wide ranging support. It reflects the fact that this Park is one of Britain’s most precious natural treasures. But anyone who knows the area cannot fail to be horrified by the sheer noise and frightening carnage inflicted on its roads every summer by the madness of literally hundreds of speeding bikers.” Mr Braithwaite said that the road menace in the Park had real economic costs, with tourists to the area often left shaken and frightened by their experience. Farmers, too, who have to drive livestock along these routes also fear for their own safety, and the safety of their animals, he said. With regard to HGVs, he said that BAND had been in touch with a number of fleet operators seeking a reduction in unnecessary transiting of the Park, and this had received a positive response. “In this case, we are seeking persuasion rather than enforcement. But the lethal fools who use these roads as a racetrack are beyond simple persuasion.” He added that the Campaign recognised that a blanket 50 mph speed restriction across the Park was not an immediate likelihood, though it was a long-term goal. More immediately, BAND is pressing for specific speed restrictions on the B1257, where it crosses the Park. “This is the route known as the ‘Yorkshire TT’. It is the route where speed records are set, to be recorded and boasted about on biker web-sites. And these are the same biker web sites that reassure their readers about the minimal police presence on the road. We want a 50 mph limit set, and we want it enforced.” Ends For further information please contact: Liam Turner: 0207 9397923 lt@chelgate.com Amelia Wellington: 0207 9397911 aw@chelgate.com
Notes to Editors Please see below a full list of the signatories and a copy of the open letter. Full list of the signatories: 1. Richard Allan MP Brake Party Group on Road Safety and Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber 2. David Andrews, Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Tourist Board 3. Peter Beaumont Gold Cup winning racehorse trainer 4. Jack Berry MBE Former leading northern racehorse trainer 5. Brian Blessed Actor, adventurer and President of the Council for National Parks 6. David Bowe MEP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber 7. Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Boycott OBE Former Yorkshire and England cricket player and commentator 8. Arthur Butterworth MBE British composer 9. Dame Antonia (A.S.) Byatt DBE Yorkshire born, internationally acclaimed novelist, short-story writer and critic 10. Robin Compton Former High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, former President of the North of England Horticultural and Yorkshire Agricultural Society 11. Richard Corbett MEP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber 12. Ian Curteis TV playwright and Director (Churchill and the Generals, Suez 1956, The Falklands Play). Ripon resident 13. Rt Hon the Lord Peter Feversham Landowner, former President of the National Association of Local Councils and a writer 14. James (Jimmy) FitzGerald Racehorse trainer and member of the National Trainers Federation
15. Steve Gibson Chairman of the Middlesbrough Football Club
16. Sir Ben Gill Recent President of the NFU and president of the Confederation of European Agriculture
17. Sir David Goodall Former British High Commissioner to India and artist (author of ''Ryedale Pilgrimage'')
18. John Greenway MP for Ryedale
19. Rt Rev. Ambrose Griffith Recent Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
20. Rt Hon William Hague MP MP for Richmond in Yorkshire
21. Sir Bernard Ingham Former Chief Press Secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
22. Alice Mahon MP MP for Halifax, Treasurer of the UK All-Parliamentary Human Rights Group and Brake All Party Group on road safety
23. Edward McMillan-Scott MEP MEP for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
24. Professor David Moody Former lecturer at the University of York and a Fellow of the English Association
25. Cllr Christopher Parkin District councillor for Helmsley and appointed representative on several ''outside bodies'' including the Yorkshire Tourist Board and the North Yorkshire Moors
26. Cllr Bob Pendlebury OBE President of the Ramblers Association for North Yorkshire and the South Durham area, chairman of the Northumbria Tourist Board and a cabinet member for environmental sustainability and member of the Highways Committee
27. Cllr Michael Richardson Conservative councillor for Stokesley
28. Lord (Brian) Rix Actor and President of MENCAP
29. Patrick Stewart OBE Actor and Director (Star Trek etc) and recently appointed Chancellor of Huddersfield University. Born in Yorkshire
30 . Janet Street-Porter Journalist, broadcaster and Vice-President of the Ramblers Association
31. Alan Titchmarsh MBE Yorkshire born, the UK''s most well-known gardener and a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture 32. Fred Trueman Former Yorkshire and England cricket player 33. Zoe Wanamaker CBE Actress, starred as Madam Hooch in Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone, set in North Yorkshire 34. Rev Canon Glyn Webster Acting Dean of York Minster 35. Cllr Richard Murray Wells Ward member for Helmsley (alongside Chris Parkin) 36. Rt Rev Timothy Wright MA Abbot of Ampleforth 2. Open Letter: Dear Editor,
We write to express our concern over a growing threat to one of Britain''s most precious national treasures, the North York Moors National Park. This is a site of extraordinary natural beauty, environmental significance and historical importance, rich in the relics of past generations, from drovers’ roads and ancient castles to the world-famous ruins of Rievaulx Abbey. Damage to this precious park is not merely a matter of concern to local residents. It is a loss to the nation as a whole.
Today, the safety, beauty and peace of the Park is being destroyed by a comparatively new phenomenon: large numbers of speeding bikers, often riding in packs, many of whom travel from great distances to use the roads across the park as a lethal race track, racing at reported speeds of up to 180 miles an hour.
Visitors from all over Britain come to the Park. Not only is their enjoyment of its peace and beauty being undermined, but they themselves are being put at risk. Lethal crashes and serious accidents have become commonplace. Death and injury to the bikers themselves is unavoidable, but, tragically, innocent drivers and pedestrians (both residents and visitors) can be victims of this criminal madness.
Environmental damage is also unavoidable, with a real threat to wildlife habitats. Deer and other animals crossing the Park road, for example, are constantly at hazard, while noise pollution has become a significant factor in the Park, with a high proportion of the motorbikes illegally modified to maximise engine roar. For the local community there is also an economic price to pay, as visitors, shaken by the sheer number and speed of the bike gangs leave, never to return.
Last year an action group, Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger (BAND), was formed to address these pressing issues on perhaps the most significant road in the park, the B1257, running from Helmsley to Stokesley. While BAND is not against bikers, it is strongly against those who use this road as a lethal racetrack. The dangers and environmental damage caused by bikers are also seriously compounded by the growing number of heavy commercial vehicles who have identified the road across the national park as a shortcut to and from the North.
We would like to record our support for this community campaign, and call on the authorities to act now as a matter of urgency to meet BAND''s five principal demands. These are:
1) To reduce the speed limit to a maximum of 50 mph on all roads within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park
2) To seek a significant enhancement of traffic police presence and road safety enforcement on the B1257
3) To seek the introduction of speed cameras on the B1257
4) To seek police action against illegal noise pollution by motorbikes within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park
5) To reduce the volume of Heavy Commercial Vehicles transiting the Park
Yours,
NORTH YORK’S POLICE RESPONSE - 28th April
Issues such as speed limits and the movement of lorries are not policing matters, but here is our response to the police elements of their letter and release:
''North Yorkshire Police share BAND''s concerns about anti-social riding and driving, not just on the B1247 but on all the 6,000 miles of roads which it is our responsibility to police.
''Specifically, we devote considerable resources to roads like the B1257 which have a reputation for excessively fast riding or driving. The National Park section of the B1257 has such a reputation; every year a tiny proportion of the motorcyclists who enjoy that road do try to live up to that reputation, and every year some of them pay the price.
''28 riders died on North Yorkshire''s roads last year - one of them on the B1257 - a wholly unacceptable total and that is why throughout this summer the force is operating: - a strict enforcement regime- extra high-profile patrols - a series of get-tough action days with large numbers of Road Policing officers enforcing the law on roads with records of serious motorcycle accidents or complaints of anti-social rider behaviour - fast-tracking the worst speed offenders through the courts, so the most serious speeders will lose their licences within weeks.
''We share BAND''s view of the minority who tarnish the image of the majority by anti-social behaviour such as stunt riding or using illegally noisy race exhausts. These activities belong on the race track not on public roads, and we act firmly against those whose activities impinge on the quality of life of other people.
''The force''s Bike Safe education strategy will continue, but the policing emphasis has shifted towards enforcement. Our view is that there is space enough for road users, residents and visitors to enjoy the beauties of North Yorkshire together, and there is no reason why we should tolerate the small, selfish minority who spoil the county for others, as well as risking their own lives for nothing better than a brief burst of speed.''
www.betterbiking.co.uk
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