Motorcycle freedom threat?
Discussion
Hi all, watched this youtube motorvlog from Stuart Fillingham I was concerned enough to share this. I would be interested in your thoughts, should we be worried and take action by supporting MAG as suggested ?
link below....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnhgBa_fNQ
link below....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnhgBa_fNQ
Not watched the video but, to a certain extent, the motorcycling community must own part of the blame for this. While I'm unaware of any actual "count" on this, it appears to me that some of the more popular mods to bikes are excessively loud exhausts and DRLs the dazzle other road users. That "f
k you" attitude is not going to win the friends needed to make such proposals unlikely to succeed.
k you" attitude is not going to win the friends needed to make such proposals unlikely to succeed. I doubt it would be a full ban, just the usual loads of restrictions and restrictions to restrictions that the police won't care a jot about.
If anything, I would have thought the aftermarket spares manufacturers would be lobbying against this like mad?
Although sadly, does seem to me there are so, so fewer bikers around these days. In the 70s and 80s they were everywhere.
If so, you won't have a chance.
If anything, I would have thought the aftermarket spares manufacturers would be lobbying against this like mad?
Although sadly, does seem to me there are so, so fewer bikers around these days. In the 70s and 80s they were everywhere.
If so, you won't have a chance.
Paulus200sx said:
should we be worried and take action by supporting MAG as suggested ?
Yes: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ETVHG5/MCN said:
The Motorcycle Action Group is encouraging motorcyclists to respond to proposals from the Department for Transport (DfT) that would restrict owners from modifying their bikes. The proposals are part of the DfT’s ‘Future of Transport’ review and are lumped in with lots of other vehicle standards that the department is looking to modernise.
Under the proposed changes it would be a crime to ‘tamper’ with ‘a system, part or component of a vehicle intended or adapted to be used on a road’. MAG were in attendance at the webinar where the proposals were first made.
"I was expecting the lack of motorcycle focus in policies for the charging infrastructure, but the anti-tampering proposals came as a real sucker punch," says Colin Brown, MAG’s Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement. "As the owner of a motorcycle with less OEM parts than aftermarket ones you can imagine my reaction. This renewed attack on the right to do what you wish with your own property is not something that I can see many motorcyclists welcoming."
The reasons for the proposed changes are twofold: ensuring emissions standards after manufacture and for autonomous vehicles. Currently there is no test for a bike’s emissions once it leaves the factory, which presents a headache for schemes such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London, which is based entirely on which Euro rating the vehicle met at manufacture.
Clearly if a bike is nominally Euro 4 but had had the catalytic converter removed, charcoal canister binned and a full remap, its emissions will greatly exceed the emissions limits even if on paper it complies. The other issue is with autonomous vehicles. The safety of autonomous vehicles is entirely reliant on the system doing as expected, especially when it’s interacting with other self-driving vehicles. If someone was to modify the hardware or software, the vehicle could behave unexpectedly and disaster could ensue. The Government is keen to get ahead of this and making modifications illegal is seen as an important step on the route to self-driving cars.
Under the proposed changes it would be a crime to ‘tamper’ with ‘a system, part or component of a vehicle intended or adapted to be used on a road’. MAG were in attendance at the webinar where the proposals were first made.
"I was expecting the lack of motorcycle focus in policies for the charging infrastructure, but the anti-tampering proposals came as a real sucker punch," says Colin Brown, MAG’s Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement. "As the owner of a motorcycle with less OEM parts than aftermarket ones you can imagine my reaction. This renewed attack on the right to do what you wish with your own property is not something that I can see many motorcyclists welcoming."
The reasons for the proposed changes are twofold: ensuring emissions standards after manufacture and for autonomous vehicles. Currently there is no test for a bike’s emissions once it leaves the factory, which presents a headache for schemes such as the Ultra Low Emission Zone in London, which is based entirely on which Euro rating the vehicle met at manufacture.
Clearly if a bike is nominally Euro 4 but had had the catalytic converter removed, charcoal canister binned and a full remap, its emissions will greatly exceed the emissions limits even if on paper it complies. The other issue is with autonomous vehicles. The safety of autonomous vehicles is entirely reliant on the system doing as expected, especially when it’s interacting with other self-driving vehicles. If someone was to modify the hardware or software, the vehicle could behave unexpectedly and disaster could ensue. The Government is keen to get ahead of this and making modifications illegal is seen as an important step on the route to self-driving cars.
It is something we should be concerned about, I think, if only in terms of limiting any legislation to that which deals with safety and/or emissions.
Fillingham is a throbber and his video title is clickbait nonsense. He regularly presents opinion as fact and drones on far too long for me to watch any of his videos to the end.
Fillingham is a throbber and his video title is clickbait nonsense. He regularly presents opinion as fact and drones on far too long for me to watch any of his videos to the end.
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