Go-slow protest bikers take to M54
Monday 26th September 2011, 11:27AM BST.
Dozens of bikers took to the M54 in Shropshire on a ‘go slow’ protest over proposed EU regulations on bikes.
Organisers of the go-slow protest along motorways across the country yesterday said they wanted to raise awareness of the planned changes to motorbike law.
The Motorcycle Action Group claims the rule changes would require them to submit to more regulations than other road users.
Protesters rode at about 45mph for up to 20 minutes along stretches of motorway including the M40, M6, M54 and M5, causing some tailbacks.
A statement issued on the MAG website says: “A raft of issues emanating from Europe will have a profound effect on riders and the motorcycle industry generally.
“We must stand up and be heard.”
Click here to read the full story in the premium 24 website.
Most Commented
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
- The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff doesn't raise a smile
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
45mph – that IS slow. Less than half the speed they normally go.
Report abuse
Car drivers, of course, NEVER break the speed limits, always look both ways with great care before emerging form junctions, invariably give clear and correct signals, never fail to check behind before using their (misaligned) windscreen washers, and wouldn’t be seen dead flicking a burning cigarette end out of their car …
Report abuse
Oh to be able to achieve 45mph on some parts of the M6 in the West Midlands.
And good luck to them if it means they don’t have to comply with daft regulations like having to wear a hi-visibility vest while riding.
But if other road users made use of “hi-perception eyes” the problem of ‘visibility’ might be resolved.
Report abuse
Why is it that one group’s protest has to affect other road user’s going about their daily business? Hardly makes Euro politians take notice. It was not a go slow as much as rolling blockade on the M54. Sick of bikers, beware bikers signs and idiots that normally tear past between traffic and over the speed limit.
Report abuse
Did you object to similar action by truck drivers, in a bid to reduce fuel duty and tax? No, I thought not. Oh dear, the grapes are sour, aren’t they?
Report abuse
That’s not a credible comparison. Many people support reductions in fuel duty and tax for transport companies because of the direct knock-on effect it has on the price of goods. The proposed changes to motorcycle regulations affect… well, only bikers, it seems.
Report abuse
some of the regulations that are being spoken about will actually effect car drivers as well, such as modifacations to vehicles which will even effect the types of tyres that you are allowed to put on your vehicle.
the Hi Vis vest issue is coming into law in France this year i think.
the protest was not only on the M54 but i was all over the country and they were meant to stay to the left of the carriage ways.
having said all that it MAY have been a pointless exercise as GB has not plans to put any of the proposals into british law, mainly i think, because it would effect our car industry too greatly.
Report abuse
One should never assume – are the sour grapes a figment of your imagination? Yes I did object to the action by truck drivers – sort of makes your post quite senseless and meanlingless.
Report abuse
The “rolling blockade” as you put it was only in the left hand lane. The right hand lane was free for anyone wishing to overtake.
We bikers are sick of idiots who pull out of junctions without making sure anyone is approaching. We are sick of idiots who decide to change lanes without bothering to check their mirrors to see if they are in fact being overtaken themselves.
We are sick of idiots who are using their phones to talk or indeed text while driving, fiddling with their satnavs, their radios, drinking their coffee or brushing their hair or shaving, because they’re too idle to get up out of bed 5 minutes earlier. We are sick of idiots looking at maps whilst driving because they haven’t planned their journey properly. We are sick of idiots reading their delivery notes, newspapers, even books as they are driving.
Please tell us how wearing hi-viz and having our lights on is going to help idiots to see us if they are not even going to bother looking because they are already distracted by the things I have mentioned above?
Report abuse
Surely the idea of making yourself as visible as possible is nothing more than self preservation ?
Ask yourself this question, why do army vehicles drive around with their lights on? To make themselves more visible thereby reducing the risk factor of people not seeing them.
Report abuse
My dad was a lorry driver and a car ran into the back of him at traffic lights, His excuse i never saw you. My point is if he never saw a forty foot 37 ton lorry then it dont matter what we wear or lights we have on if they are not payin attention theyn wont see us
Report abuse
The “rolling blockade” as you put it was only in the left hand lane. The right hand lane was free for anyone wishing to overtake.
As the picture clearly shows? Some people simply don’t know their left from their right…….
Report abuse
As a motorcyclist of almost 40 years’ standing, an ex ‘Advanced’ instructor and test examiner, I fully endorse Al’s comments.
Long experience taught me that hi vis jackets, daytime headlights and an elephant walking in front waving a red flag has abolutely no effect on whether or not that car driver will see you (or in some cases, even bother to look).
It’s all in how you ride and where you put yourself. Ride like a police officer and – how curious! – drivers see you.
What’s the biker’s best defence against that car driver pulling out? Watch his wheel trims. The slightest movement of these is a giveaway that the driver’s moving. Not a bad tip for car drivers, either.
Report abuse
I am old enough to remember the outrage that compulsory helmet law brought.Absurd they said ; bikers will go faster.
Anything that reduces death and injury amongst bikers is worthwhile.Having read the proposals ,they are not very restrictive, and also about emissions.Or do we just ignore the carbon issue ?
Report abuse
Ride like a policeman and they see you, Didn’t help the on duty- hi viz covered – fully livered bike- riding with colleagues, police man killed in a head on crash near Kidderminster last month. Oh and he wasn’t on a persuit either.
Report abuse
Reads like a typical incorrect Daily Mail headline. Take your protest to London or Brussels and leave the rest of us in peace.
Report abuse
We idiot car drivers are sick of suicidal bikers who overtake multiple cars at speed coming up to junctions and expect car drivers to blink and notice they’ve appeared within a 2 second window just as we’re about to pull off, bikers who undercut cars, bikers who ride like they own the road, bikers who zig zag in and out of traffic like their time is sooooo much more important than anyone else’s, etc, etc, ………bikers using the road are at no more than risk than anyone else, anything could happen, get over it or don’t use the roads.
Report abuse
It was not a blockade – we kept lanes open for traffic to pass.
Report abuse
As can be plainly seen in in the picture above, no, you didn’t.
Report abuse
“We must stand up and be heard.”
Ironic that they were, in actual fact, sitting down during their protest…
Report abuse
Another example of why we should come “Out of the E.U.”
Report abuse
I wish I’d have been going down the M54 at the time – it could have been pay-back time by zig-zagging in between the bikers like they do to cars etc on the motorway. See how they like it!!
Report abuse
A speeding, zigzaging biker recently caused my car to be written off. I only had it 3 weeks and now have no car, a whole load of hassle and nothing like enough to replace it.
Sorry but no sympathy from me.
Report abuse
You probably weren’t concentrating and hogging a lane. Car written off as a result of a bike zigzagging! Pull the other one !
Report abuse
I was concentrating and I was not hogging a lane. A speeding, zig-zagging biker caused the traffic ahead to brake sharply; I braked too and because I was concentrating and had left a sufficient gap between me and the car in front I was able to stop appropriately however the driver behind ran into the back of me and as a consequence not only wrote my car off but also his. FACT.
Report abuse
To see an example of CARS doing this, spend the morning “rush time” on a bridge overlooking the A442 heading from Trench to the railway station, and see the lunatic undertaking drivers (yes, I’ve seen you, the blue sports car) zigzag in between the rest of the traffic as they try to shave a few precious seconds off their journey.
Sensible ‘filtering’ on a motorcycle down the aisle between stationary or very slow moving rows of motorway traffic does make the car drivers mad, yes – but only because they’re stuck in their tin cans whilst we bikers enjoy the fresh air, and arrive at our destinations before they do.
Report abuse
You really do sound like a pompous fellow…
Hope you keep your payments up to the air ambulance!
Report abuse
It’s not easy. One has to work at these things.
Report abuse
What, exactly, are you suggesting with your last sentence there, Andy?
Report abuse
Probally just made this story if his previous post is anything to go by. Does any sane individual really spend spend part of their morning watching traffic on the A422 to look out for the blue sports car that zig zags through traffice like a motorbike? Well one person states that he does – whilst also suggesting that bikers can break the law by ‘sensible filtering’ (to just save a few seconds of course).
Report abuse
Gary, it is legal for a bike to filter in slow or stationry traffic.
Report abuse
Gary – perhaps it is his job to monitor the traffic?
And for your information, filtering is totally legal and can shave a considerable amount of time off ones journey.
Report abuse
So what are the new regulations?
Report abuse
Not a very good way for the bikers to get support. It just seems to have annoyed everyone.
Report abuse
That’s what protesting does. Like teachers and there selfish pension moaning. School closed…Kids not at at school…upset mummies.
Report abuse
may I paint you a picture? Imagine being told that you had to use OE parts every time your car needed attention. Bye bye Halfords, Kwik Fit, etc. Imagine being regularly stopped by the police when you were out driving perfectly legally, for them to check you hadn’t tampered with your vehicle or fitted any non-standard parts. Imagine being told that you were forbidden to drive unless you were wearing a certain colour clothing. … Imagine having the control of your vehicle taken out of your hands and trusted to a computer. Imagine being told that your 7 year old car, your pride and joy, was now forbidden from entering towns and cities. This is the reason you were held up for 20 minutes. Be under no misunderstanding, the bikers are the first in line for draconian EU interference. If we fall, it will be a domino effect. Support us now, Bikers are fighting so that you wont have to.
Report abuse
Yes, an excellent example of how the United States of Europe will probably work. It really is about time that we had the long-promised referendum. Oh dear, silly me … promises and politicians … an oxymoron.
Seriously though, Paul is right. Motorcyclists are every Transport Minister’s favourite minority group and are, consequently, first in the firing line. I’d sent my MP a complaint by text message, providing I can work out a way to do so whilst riding my motorcycle and wearing leather gloves. Rats, I’ll just have get the car out.
Report abuse