Do you wish you could have more say in the policies that affect you as a motorcyclist?

Next year there is likely to be political change in the UK as the nation chooses who will govern us for the next 3-5 years.

Recognising that motorcyclists want their say on what directly affect them three organisations have joined forces under the banner Riders Are Voters – The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), the British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) and the Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCI) to launch a campaign to encourage motorcyclists to vote in the forthcoming General Election.

The main ‘Riders Are Voters’ campaign will kick off in the new year and as part of this, motorcycle riders and businesses in the motorcycle industry will be encouraged to contact local Parliamentary Candidates to ask for support for a motorcycling manifesto; ‘Britain Needs Biking’.

However, MAG, BMF and MCI want to know what riders and business leaders think are the key issues that the campaign should focus upon. Does biking Britain need better roads? More parking? Better Government policy? More incentives for people to ride? Better policing? Or something else? Riders Are Voters wants to know what people really feel should be the key biking issues that should feature in the General Election.

You can speak to MAG and the BMF directly at the NEC Motorcycle Show, which opens to the public on Friday 27th November. They will be featuring Riders Are Voters on their stands, CX10 Hall 2 (MAG) and 1D72 Hall 1 (BMF)

People are urged to visit these stands and let the campaign know their views via the Riders Are Voters ‘ballot box’.

MAG’s Nich Brown said: ” More than a million motorcycle and scooter riders are voters, so are their friends and families. By working together ‘Riders Are Voters’ will show the biking constituency is big enough to make a difference at elections. Government still has a long way to go to deliver on its promise to put biking at the heart of transport thinking; we’ve made progress but the message still has to get through to some parts of local and national government.

BMF’s Chris Hodder said “The one thing we have learnt about riders is that motorcycling is right at the top of their personal agendas. The big changes expected at the next election mean that now could be the best time in decades to let those who want our votes know where we really stand.”

MCI’s Sheila Rainger added “The industry is delighted to support this campaign. It’s clear that despite the limited actions taken in the last ten
years and the occasional warm words from Ministers, the motorcycle community expects much, much more. Motorcycles don’t create traffic congestion and are the lowest polluting form of private powered transport for a given journey. Therefore it makes absolutely no sense that the Government does not support motorcycling in its overall transport strategy.”

Motorbikin: There’s no doubt that the efforts of these three organisations have made great strides in getting motorcycling onto the political agenda in recent years, so let’s see what we can do to get the party candidates to take notice of us in the run up to the General Election. With a million of us eligible to vote we ought to be a force to be reckoned with lets make sure apathy doesn’t win the day.