A new government run website has been launched that allows the public to suggest changes to the law

The website is designed to allow the general public to input their ideas into how laws should change and to comment on other submissions, to quote “identify anything which looks unnecessary, pointless, or just downright daft”. Some of the suggestions under the heading of motoring and motorcycling include:

• Abolish Car Tax and put on Fuel
• Make the speeding laws work FOR road safety
• Allow Motorcycles to use Bus Lanes
• Remove the 25Kw restriction for motorcyclists under 21
• Review Speeding Laws
• Speed Limits – Restore The 85th Percentile Rule
• Remove Fixed Speed Cameras

Our bus will be at a “Help for Heroes” charity event at Victoria Park Community Centre in Taunton Saturday 12th June 2010.

Whilst this is not a bike show as such, we were invited by Judy Gaden, mother of Corporal Tom Gaden who died in action serving with 1st Battalion The Rifles on 25th February 2009.

His parents are organising a thank you for people who have shown support and Tom’s home town, and Tom was a biker as well as a soldier. It would mean a lot to Tom’s family if there was a big show of bikers there.

If you can spare the time, have a ride out and show your support, buy a wrist band and show our armed forces that our community of bikers  support them.

Corporal Tom Gaden

23 November 1984 to 25th February 2009.

Soldier, son, fiancé and rifleman.

The Rifles – “Swift and Bold”

Defence News – www.mod.uk

Saturday the 3rd July 2010 sees the start of the second Allied Memorial Remembrance Ride, hosted by the Royal British Legion Riders Branch

Two rides are to take place, one in the UK in Cambridgeshire and the other in the US in Texas, both ending in a short service. The UK ride will end at the American War Cemetery in Madingley after which there will be a barbecue at a local pub. For more information on the Memorial Ride please visit www.alliedride.org, the official website for the event, where you can register and view photos and videos of last years ride.

The key about evidence is to get the best evidence you can from the scene of the motorcycle accident.

Camera phones are excellent but download the photos. I was recently in court on a road surface accident case where a witness had the presence of mind to photograph loose gravel, but then her phone got stolen, before the photos were downloaded.

Also, don’t be reluctant to get the police to show up at the scene of the motorcycle accident. Their reports are far from perfect but people tend to speak honestly to the police about what they saw.

Be nice to the eyewitnesses. Most are sympathetic to injured bikers (so long as you don’t go ballistic at the scene of the accident) and they are much more likely to help us. We work very hard to get eyewitnesses to give a statement but I really don’t recommend you get witness statements yourself. There are fairly relaxed rules about witness statements but taking them is a skill. Also your witnesses need to say what they saw at the accident scene, not just what you want them to say. A witness statement that is clearly biased carries no weight with a Judge. It is also very easy to destroy in cross examination.  Also if the witness statement contradicts the police statement the Judges will always start off preferring what was said to the police before the lawyers got their hands on to it.  I still enjoy the moments in cross examination of a defence witness (and it has happened quite a few times) when the witness says “The solicitor told me to say that” and my personal favourite, by a lovely witness down in Devon who said at trial “I did not sign the witness statement because the insurer would not let me put what I wanted. The motorcyclist did nothing wrong and the defendant reversed into him round a blind corner. I didn’t sign it because it is not what I saw but what they wanted me to say.”" Even the Judge couldn’t resist smiling, and I almost felt sorry for the poor barrister against me, but not too sorry. The moral is be honest, because the truth will come out.

If this is of help, maybe you should print it off, put it in a freezer bag and stick it in your bikes tool roll or your bike jacket. Hopefully you will never need it but if you do you have just seriously increased the odds in your favour if you have a less than straightforward motorcycle accident claim.

Motorcycle Accident Claim – Checklist

• Exchange Information – Number plates, driving licence and insurance companies
• Keep Calm
• Call the Police
• Eyewitness details
• Take Photos – Accident scene, road layout, road surface, other vehicles
• Take a sample of the road surface if you came off on gravel or similar

Andrew Dalton
Solicitor Advocate & Barrister
Law Society Personal Injury Panel.
Senior Partner White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors

Over the years, since I first specialised in 1993 in motorcycle accident personal injury claims, I have seen good claims struggle because of lack of evidence gathered from the scene.

What I say is developed and battle proven in close to 20 years of trial experience. Not many other lawyers are going to be able to say that to you. Very few solicitors are trial lawyers, and do not have the experience of what cuts it in real court, rather than making points in letters.

 If you have a motorcycle accident or crash here is what you need to do straight away. However the motorcycle accident is caused, here are some top tips to give yourself the best fighting chance of winning in Court, or bringing a successful motorcycle personal injury claim.
 
Exchange information with the other party or parties involved in the motorcycle accident. Keep calm. An “effing and blinding” motorcyclist fulfils a lot of stereotypes of the speeding and aggressive motorcyclist and can totally turn witnesses. There is a study from Leicester University that noted that drivers of perceived fast cars were driving more quickly than little town cars – even though the speeds were identical. A motorcycle is a fast and noisy thing, usually ridden by tough looking guys or wild biker chicks. As a 42 year R1200 GS rider I know these stereotypes are nonsense but I have been a biker since I was 17. Even the police will treat with real caution the stories of speeding bikers appearing out of nowhere.  Don’t get involved in an argument at the scene. If it is likely to get ugly definitely call the police. In fact, always call the police. Getting them to actually come out is a different story.

In an ideal world you might ask for a driving licence and insurance companies but all we need to trace an insurer and a registered keeper is a UK number plate.  If it is a hit and run motorcycle accident you must get the police involved.  Use your mobile phone camera. The identity of who was driving is an issue surprisingly often. It is not often we come across cars that have alleged false number plates but it is something we see occasionally. A picture of the driver and the car kills off the “not my car, I wasn’t there” (surprisingly common) or the car being reported as stolen.

When you have your camera phone out, take as many photos as you can of the road layout, where vehicles are and anything else you think might be of interest at the scene of the motorcycle accident. I have had to rely on camera phone photos in Court many times, especially in defective roadway accidents. If you fell off on a loose road surface the hardest thing I have to prove is where that gravel came from. If you have photos and a sample from the scene of the motorcycle accident then you have made my job in bringing a personal injury claim go from the near impossible to the very much easier.

If you are trying to help an injured motorcyclist – especially in a “highways case” the state of the road is key, but that is not enough. We need to show the source of the material that fetched the rider off. A gravel sample has won me many cases, and I have had to decline to press on with cases where there is just not enough evidence.

Photos of a street name or junction sign helps place the photo. Remember this is not CSI, the Court will believe your photos are honest unless there is evidence of fraud.

Motorcycle Accident Claim – Checklist

• Exchange Information – Number plates, driving licence and insurance companies
• Keep Calm
• Call the Police
• Eyewitness details
• Take Photos – Accident scene, road layout, road surface, other vehicles
• Take a sample of the road surface if you came off on gravel or similar

Andrew Dalton
Solicitor Advocate & Barrister
Law Society Personal Injury Panel.
Senior Partner White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors

We were at a very busy Ace Café Southend Shakedown on Bank Holiday Monday. We had plenty of visitors to our stand to see one of the new prize bikes, the CCM R35 Flat Tracker as well as to collect prize draw cards.Here are a few pictures from the event

Chef and I loaded our bikes up – actually, I loaded up the R1200 GS boxes and Chef carried our contribution of Easter Eggs in his back pack, and off we set for the coast. We had been invited by the Toy Run Organisers to come back at Easter, give away freebies (this years was a rather Gucci neck tube) and to promote the RBLR1000 Poppy Appeal. We chatted to loads of fellow bikers, some of who were a bit suprised that we actually turned up on bikes. They were even more suprised that my bike was full of giveaway goodies but we still ran out, so sorry to those of you who didn’t get a neck tube.
The Run itself was pleasant with loads of people coming out to wave and the run itself was well marshalled by a couple of Patch clubs. The Lord Mayor of Canterbury turned up, and sacrificed his dignity for a photo on board a CBR 6 – all I can say is I’m glad it was not my bike and IU was genuinely concerned he would fall off the side stand. A whole van load of Easter eggs went off to various children’s hospitals and charities and (as ever) the motorcycling brotherhood (and sisterhood) conducted itself with humour, dignity and friendliness. There was no police presence, nor did there need to be. Even the delayed car drivers were smiling and waving. I reckon around 500 bikers were there.

Revealed, the true identity of the stig…

Catherine Flatt from Victor House Chambers

We won’t be at the Birmingham NEC International Motorcycle & Scooter Show this year, which is a pity and unexpected consequence of two major manufacturers pulling out. The show organisers will not allow our CCM prize bikes to go on show because they have to be especially careful that manufacturers don’t use ‘back door’ methods of getting current production models in to the show without paying exhibition fees. CCM haven’t asked us to do this.

The International Motorcycle & Scooter Show has it’s rules and we understand their position. If they bend the rules for us then they have to bend them for everyone.

After about 21 years, I have decided to re do my IAM test, and found myself meeting with one of the senior observers for my area, Simon Rawlins. Simon’s tyres showed his Bandit had been ridden a bit, with no chicken strips anywhere on his tyres. They were not cooked like trackday tyres but lets just say he gets use out of all of his tyre.
Having done my test years ago I was glad to see that a lot of the b*llsh*t had gone. I asked Simon whether the test required covering off the back brake at junctions – answer – No! I also remember having to do lifesavers about every 30 seconds, again, this is all gone. As Simon explained the purpose is to turn me into a thinking rider. It transpired Simon and I years ago had been working on the despatch circuit and though our paths never crossed, I was happy to have an ex DR as my observer because I cannot sit in traffic. Simon asked me to ride my normal style, which I did, and at our first pulling over, after about an hours riding, Simon had a few observations for me. Most were pretty complimentary, and Simon said I had clearly done a lot of bike miles and was very comfortable in the saddle. My machine control was comfortable and fluid. So far, so good. Then the areas where I needed improvement, which were observing speed limits, where I was a bit too relaxed, and he gave me a few good tips for smooth overtaking. I had been pulled up before on a Bikesafe course for slightly threatening overtakes, so I was not suprised by this. Because I don’t ride much at the weekends, I was horrified at the standard of weekend drivers. In 3 hours of riding, I had one car go for an overtake just as I was ready to accelerate past it and the lead vehicle. Luckily my sixth sense and a “head bob” by the driver alerted me, so I could stop the manoeuvre. More worryingly a car got bored in the oncoming traffic and went for an overtake forcing me right to the edge of my carriageway with a closing speed of about 120mph. Luckily, I still ride to the “system”, or at least try to, so both of these incidents passed without any casualties, but how the hell a driver can miss my bike with 4 headlights will never cease to bemuse me. It ws a good experience and already I have tidied up my overtakes, and have dropped 2 gears when in town to keep better to 30s and 40’s which I have always tried to observe, but it is a lot easier to observe them in 3rd rather than 4th or 5th. Out on the open road, Simon and I rode pretty enthusiastically, and Simon took me down some roads which really challenged me for speed, positioning and braking. And nobody made me wear any dayglow.