The thrust of industry and user group activity from the 1990s has been towards developing a policy ‘Framework’ within which other safety and transport policy advances could be made. Core to this was a belief that the clear benefits of motorcycling to transport and society should be recognised, with this providing the basis from which motorcycle safety can be developed in a sustainable and holistic way.

The need for this kind of work stemmed from the 1981 Transport Act, which sought to make access to motorcycling more difficult, while doing little or nothing to make motorcycling safer or more recognised as a legitimate mode of transport. As already discussed, an unintended effect of this was the development of a largely leisure and sport based market in the mid to late 1990s when the overall motorcycle market started to recover from the damage which had been inflicted by the 1981 Act. A lack of new riders adding diversity to the market meant that many who bought new machines were ‘returning riders’. The ‘born again biker’ phenomena became a focus of safety concerns.

The reluctance of public authorities to recognise motorcycling as a legitimate transport mode has meant that progress in reducing casualties has been slower than it could have been. The positive attributes of motorcycles are often mentioned in minor policy documents, but little has been done to fully integrate motorcycling in mainstream transport policy. Warm words about the role of motorcycling rarely result in positive action to develop the mode in anything other than safety policy. DfT structures still contain little motorcycle specific policy focus other than on safety.

The 2005 Government strategy was a step forward, but aside from many actions related to direct safety policy there has been no progress in including motorcycling in the Government’s ‘command’ transport policy. Nothing has been done to explore policy linkages across vulnerable road user groups and transport ‘policy-speak’ remains confined to walking, cycling and public transport.

Some positive actions have been taken at local authority level, but these are often piecemeal and no consistency exists across the UK. TfL has conducted several major motorcycle initiatives but still refuses to recognise motorcycles as an important transport mode in London, despite the large number of motorcycle commuters. The IHIE (now IHE) Guidelines were well received but were not universally adopted by highways engineers.

The development of the police-led BikeSafe has been one area of very positive progress, but this remains unsupported by government.

As of 2014 we have a patchwork of initiatives and a continuing resistance from within government at all levels to properly recognise and support motorcycles in transport policy. This has led to limited investment in safety compared to cycling and a continued environment of vulnerability for motorcycle and scooter users on the highway.

However, the original aims of the industry’s safety and transport policy activity remain. This new Framework offers an opportunity to set motorcycle safety into a context which will allow both the development of motorcycles as a recognised alternative to the car and unleash the potential offered by the implementation of industry/police proposals which in turn will reduce incident numbers and rider vulnerability.

But core to any motorcycle safety strategy is the full and proper recognition and support of motorcycles in overall transport policy.

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