BMF Round Up!

Region 10 Northern Ireland Round up 2013

howardanderson2013small The British Motorcyclists Federation – BMF –  in Northern Ireland, has a round up of what has been happening in 2013. Of course we will add a couple of our own comments, it would be rude not to!

Howard Anderson, Northern Ireland Region Chairman, comments:

“All round it has been a good year for the BMF in Northern Ireland, once again the number of affiliated clubs has grown, although three clubs from previous years did not re-affiliate.

This leaves the region with almost 30 clubs on the books and I hope to see this grow in 2014.

This year the following new clubs have joined our ranks. Barry’s Biker Babes, N.I. Bikers and Trikers, Streetfighters N.I., our first scooter club to the region the Ulster Vespa Club, the Widows Sons, Masonic Bikers Assoc of Ireland, Lizzie Drakes MCC, Moira MCC and the Highway Men MCC.

Welcome to the BMF and thank you for your support in our continuation to fight for riders rights.

I would dearly like to see growth in individual membership in the coming year.

I would also welcome new Gold Corporate member Nutt Travel to the Federation, Billy Nutt MBE has a long history with the motorcycling world having promoted race events and been Clerk of the Course at the world famous NW200.

This year was no different as Billy supported son Marty to become BSB champion in the Ducati 848 Challenge, very well done and congratulations guys ,it is no mean feat putting a winning championship season together.

Nutt Promotions also run the premier motorcycle show in Northern Ireland always giving a discount to BMF members at the door, there is a separate announcement on the dates and venue of the show.

Billy will also be announcing more special travel offers to our members throughout the coming year, something else to watch out for, adding even more value to your membership”.

And Now For Our Comments!

Well done to Howard Anderson – and the folk at the BMF in Northern Ireland for growing the clubs affiliation and “getting” Nutt Travel  as a Gold Corporate member.

However what is missing is the BMF’s continued behind the scenes work, along with ourselves and the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK), attending meetings such as the Motorcycle Road Safety Forum and other stakeholder groups which consider legislation and consultations that would affect motorcyclists in Northern Ireland.

Recently with the fatalities of motorcyclists increasing, compared to last year (an all time low), Howard was interviewed for the BBC Radio Ulster Talk Back by its host Wendy Austin.

We were also called to give our opinion but unfortunately on that day we were out of range of a mobile signal.  The joys of rural living!

Wendy Austin asked Howard, “A second motorcyclist death in a week eight in total this year could more be done to make biking safer – There has been a great drive to make motorcycling safer in recent years has it been working at all?”

Howard replied, “I think there has been a massive push, as recently as the 8th of this month myself and interested bodies have been meeting with the DOE, DRD Road Services, Driver and Vehicle agency and so on in the interest of motorcycle safety.”

Howard mentioned the introduction of CBT (Complusory Basic Training) and that a person can, “No longer ride a motorcycle straight on the road, when you buy it you have to take all sorts of training and testing to make sure your skill levels are at a level where you can be on the road and I think that the authorities are trying to educate both motorcyclists and other road users to watch out for motorcyclists and they are doing as much as they can within the budgets they have.”

Wendy Austin mentioned an interesting campaign from a few years ago that asked other road users to look out for motorcyclists and with the worse days coming up to the darker nights people need to be very aware of the vulnerability of the man or woman on two wheels when driving something that is larger and has four wheels.

Howard’s response was, “Absolutely, the motorcyclist is a vulnerable road user just like a cyclist and anyone who hasn’t got a steel cage around them, pedestrians included. It is one of those times of year again and motorcycles are now hard wired so that their lights are on all the time. That doesn’t mean again that people will see them, maybe they are blinded by other lights on the road, it is a case of continually educating car drivers and road users that to second look to see what is actually coming at you.”

We look forward to our continued contact with the BMF in Northern Ireland!

Original Source – British Motorcyclists Federation – Click Here

DOE Road Safety – Motorcyclists Safety

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