A write up from Paddy at MAG re Riders Rights

As the dust begins to settle after the 25th, many things, including the results of our actions, are becoming clear. First the good news? Our original estimate of numbers may have been a little conservative it seems. After discussion with the various Police forces it appears that we had a larger turnout than even we first thought, which is definitely a record. I'm certainly not aware of any simultaneous mobilisation of riders for a political cause ever happening before on this scale. It did mean that many of the Police Forces were caught a little off guard, but their co-operation was generally excellent and feedback from many forces has been positive, especially where the runs managed to keep left, which also provided a much better spectacle for the cameras and passing motorists who could marvel at the numbers and discipline. In those areas particularly, the political responses are already being witnessed. MEPs who had previously failed to respond to constituents earlier letters are now writing back, though I presume this is only a coincidence and down to a glitch in their email service. We are recieving communications here at Central office from domestic and European representatives who wonder how they can help and from those who appear, up until Sunday, to have been completely unaware of the issues. MEP researchers are asking for our advice and there is a real increase in cross party support. In the European Parliament MEPs align themselves in 'party blocks' and seek guidance from their block on how to vote on certain issues. We are in the process of securing an audience with one of the blocks that we had previously been unable to reach, and yet another has now significantly changed its stance on compulsory ABS. These really are great leaps forward and proof positive that the demo is still one of the tools in our box of lobbying tricks. Of course, as a tool, its over-use will blunt it quite significantly, so we'll have be very careful when we use it again, and at this stage that may be in the Spring when the Parliament is gearing up to vote on the EU Type Approval and Market Surveillance Regulation. I have heard talk that some riders are upset about the level of TV coverage the day received, even though it was lead or second story on just about every regional network following news, has been reported in over a hundred newspapers and was covered by (now) over 40 radio stations, with interviews and discussions ongoing- indeed BBC Solent are again discussing the day tomorrow morning. The good news is that TV directors do not write or vote on legislation, politicians do and we have made great advances in the last couple of days, so the event was certainly a roaring success and everyone deserves a round of applause. Further action on the streets in the short term will be terribly counter productive to the whole lobbying process, undermining all the incredible work FEMA are doing on our behalf in Brussels, what MAG and the BMF have been doing here and undermining every letter anyone has written. It will also of course, ultimately damage biking and it's image and any action which is unlawful will only hasten the introduction of more stringent legislation and play into the hands of those who do want to see us off the road. But let's not be gloomy, the two and three-wheeled community is one that always prides itself on sticking together and we certainly showed we were able to do that at the weekend. It was a truly momentous day, actually strengthed our relationships with the police, especially all those traffic officers who also ride and their bosses, who admired our composure. Yes, I know there were some instances of riders dicking about and we are still spending a lot of time cleaning up after them, when we could be concentrating on riders' rights, but we always knew there would be a few who didn't quite get the importance of the demo as a political tool. MAG is certainly stronger, another 5 groups are about to start and membership figures have taken a sharp upward swing. Perhaps even more encouraging, was hearing from members like Chris, who, unable to ride on the day, rang the office to donate the cost of the fuel they would have used. That really is the spirit of the riding community. Now that we have the politicians' attention, we'll be needing to concentrate our efforts in certain areas and we'll be issuing guidance soon on where we'd like your help as things develop and we approach the postponed IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee) vote on the 22nd November. In the meantime, if you still feel like being a bit political, please sign the Get A Grip petition and we'll get closer to achieving consistent grip levels too> http://www.getagripuk.org/Main-content/petition.html