Dispute Over Right for Motorcyclists to Use Bus Lanes Continues

The Government has responded to a petition to allow motorcyclists to use bus lanes by default, and it has left the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) disappointed after receiving a “negative response” to its demands.

The petition which can be found Government website here, was started in November and so far has reached 16,717 signatures, but the MAG has hit back against the Department for Transport’s response which said that not enough safety evidence has been provided following a consultation.

What the petition was created to do was to allow bikers the freedom of using bus lanes by default, and if that was given the all-clear, the only thing stopping motorcyclists would be their local authorities if they deemed it not safe or necessary.

A statement from the Government said: “Local authorities are best placed to understand the needs of their local road networks, rather than central government. In the absence of robust data from the consultation, there is little justification for moving away from a position of local authority choice to one in which allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes is the default.

“The safety benefits of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes are not clear. The consultation aimed to gather up to date, robust evidence, primarily from local authorities. While a very large number of individual responses was received, there were not enough from local authorities to provide the information needed. Although many individuals responded in favour, the vast majority did not provide any supporting evidence of the benefits or risks.”

But unsurprisingly this has angered the MAG, who has taken issue with the ‘default policy’ that has been adopted by the Government.

The petition’s author and MAG’s Director of Campaigns and Political Engagement said: “We are not in the least surprised by this, and it is exactly why we will not let this drop. We ask all riders to continue signing and promoting the petition until we pass the 100,000-signature goal we set from the outset.

“Riders have a choice – they can either roll over at the first sign of rejection – accept that they don’t matter; or they can sign the petition and send a strong message to the Government. What choice will they make? I hope it is the right one.”

If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, which would still require 83,283 as of the time of this writing, then the case will be debated in parliament.

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