Motorcycle Action Group comments on the initiative by Sussex police on high visibility clothing
From the el Presidente of the Motorcycle Action Group(MAG) sent to the Sussex Police force regarding their policy of enforcing cloting rules on motorcyclists!
“I have read that Sussex police are stopping motorcyclists who are spotted riding without reflective clothing. An article in the weekly ‘Motorcycle News’ states that police officers are providing advice on the use of reflective items, handing the riders reflective vests which they are urged to wear, and checking their bikes for roadworthiness.
As a body that exists to represent the interests of motorcyclists we are concerned that riders are being stopped on the highway when they are doing nothing wrong and implicitly told that their behaviour falls short of what is deemed appropriate.
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) is concerned that a tactic whose value in reducing road accidents is unproven, is being promoted in a way that does not appear to reflect the uncertainties and sensitivities that surround this issue.
MAG is uncomfortable with the implicit suggestion that riders are partially to blame when involved in accidents with motorists who claim not to have seen them. MAG has a philosophic commitment to free choice over the clothing style and standards which riders adopt and so we view any attempt to coerce riders into a code of clothing conduct as worrying.
MAG remains sceptical of drivers’ claims of not seeing motorcyclists. It seems reasonable to speculate that no driver at the scene of a typical intersection accident would admit to seeing a motorcycle but pulling out anyway in the belief that there was enough time to complete the manoeuvre. MAG believes that the issue of ‘unseen’ motorcycles is more complex than many think. Moreover there is concern that riders who wear reflective kit believe themselves to be more visible to motorists in all circumstances and subconsciously ride less defensively in consequence, sometimes with tragic consequences.
As the road safety debate has evolved to a more sophisticated level, the aspects of human behaviour I have mentioned here are enjoying more serious consideration, certainly the phenomenon of risk compensation is pretty much now universally accepted as axiomatic.
Against this background your initiative, though obviously well motivated, appears conspicuously simplistic and worrying inasmuch as it shifts the onus of responsibility to the rider’s detriment. We would value your comments on these observations and hope that you will take this letter as an invitation to an ongoing dialogue in pursuit of enhanced road safety for all road users.
I wonder in conclusion if you would consider an operation that involves stopping motorists for random roadside eyesight checks? Operation spectacle perhaps?”
Ian Mutch
MAG President
Information: Ian Mutch theroad@mag-uk.org
