EUROPEAN LICENCE DEMO
20 September 2005 - MAG UK

The Motorcycle Action Group and the British Motorcyclists Federation are co-operating with Motor Cycle News in the organisation of a protest gathering and ride in Brussels on Saturday 1st October in response to the EU proposals on motorcycle licensing.

We feel that the risk posed to the future of motorcycling by these draconian regulations is considerable as it is likely they will severely discourage new riders from taking to two wheels. In all probability millions of potential riders will take to cars instead as access to them will be far easier by comparison.

This is bad for the future of the riders’ movement as it diminishes the pool of potential support as well as reducing the percentage of total traffic that we represent.

The regulations would appear to have been designed simply to discourage people from taking to motorcycles as a crude means of reducing the gross numbers of motorcycle accidents, a policy which will be resisted totally by the riders’ movement.

MAGs Director of Public Affairs, Trevor Baird says, ''If Governments or non democratic institutions wish to introduce these regulations they should produce evidence justifying these proposals and not bring about extra and unnecessary regulation, in the name of safety.''

The intention of the demonstration is simply to attract media and political attention to the issue in order to bolster the negotiations that have been on-going for some time.

The provisional plan is to meet at the Atomium in Brussels at 1pm on Saturday October 1st and after a few brief speeches, to ride past the Parliament buildings in order to provide a photo opportunity for the media.

There is no organised rally or social dimension to this event however details of a campsite and telephone numbers for accommodation will be posted on the MAG and BMF websites and in MCN.

We apologise for the short notice of this demonstration which has been prompted by the sustained intransigence of EU institutions under the banner of harmonisation.

www.mag-uk.org

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