Motorcycle Safety Action Plan (for London)

This Motorcycle Safety Action Plan, the first of its kind in London, is designed to directly reduce the number of collisions involving motorcyclists and scooter riders.

In 2012 there were 629 motorcyclist KSIs (killed and seriously injured) on London’s roads; which equated to 21% of all KSIs in London that year.

Despite the number of motorcycles registered in London steadily increasing in the last decade, motorcycling made up just 2.3 per cent of all vehicle kilometres, meaning that motorcyclist KSIs remain disproportionally high.

The plan was compiled by TfL working with representatives from the motorcycle industry and is based on detailed analysis of the risks and challenges faced by riders in London.

It outlines 29 key actions to directly target the key factors in collisions, including:

• The Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Tasking Team will increase enforcement activity by 40%, to allow the team to further clamp down on dangerous behaviour such as speeding, careless riding and actions by other road users such as turning across motorcyclists at junctions. Monthly high-visibility operations will also take place across London to target motorcycle, as well as cyclists and pedestrian safety

• Better use of offender retraining for motorcyclists as an alternative to prosecutions, and lobbying the DfT for further safety and training elements, such as additional guidance on riding in a busy city environment, to be included in the motorcycle compulsory basic training (CBT) and the motorcycle licence test.

• Promoting the use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) by motorcyclists, and carrying out on-street trials of new technologies specifically designed to make motorcycling safer, such as headlights which make motorcycles look larger to help reduce right turn collisions.

• The use of hard hitting safety campaigns, designed specifically to change road user behaviour that puts motorcyclists at risk, such as drivers failing to look properly or not accurately judging motorcyclists’ paths when turning into or out of side roads.

• A new Motorcycle Courier and Delivery Code to ensure companies provide better training and safety equipment to riders while helping companies to improve riding behaviour among their employees.