From the Chair
MAG's National Chairman
Welcome everyone, to this "the new face of MAG" the A4 magazine. Now, I know that we can please all of you some of the time, and we can please some of you all of the time, but we can not please all of you all of the time. So, for those of you who might have reservations about the new format, please give it time to grow on you. Our editor is on another learning curve to design this and I'm sure he will make Herculaen efforts to ensure that all expectations are met as fully as it's humanly possible to do.
I also know that not all of you read this column, so, to you that are reading this for the first time, welcome and please read on. I usually try to keep my rants light hearted, anecdotal and sometimes, I hope, mildly amusing.
Not this month folks!
For those of you, like me, who find the political stuff sometimes difficult to follow, know this... this driving licence business is the biggest thing to threaten the existence of MAG and Motorcycling ever.
If this directive comes to pass it will have the effect of killing off motorcycling at its roots by stopping the young riders getting started.
It will make it so difficult and expensive to obtain a licence, that those who need to ride will not be able to afford it, and those who want to ride will give up before they get started.
"Well I already have my licence, so how does this affect me?" I hear you say. I say, consider this. With very few new motorcyclists coming on board the number of bikes on the road will begin to fall. Due to something called "cognitive conspicuity" accident rates per PTW mile will start to climb regardless of all other safety measures, so government will just ban bikes altogether. It will never happen? Well maybe not in my lifetime, but I seriously do not expect my grandchildren to know the joys of biking.
"Ok ok, so maybe you're right, but what can I do about it? I am just one person." Well for starters you can write to your MP, your MEP and the Minister for Transport NOW!
And you can join MAG if you are not already a member, because together we are greater than the sum of our members, and together we can stop this lunacy.
Ian Moore
National Chairman
^top