Motorcycling is a diverse and adaptable mode of transportation which should play an integral part of the State’s transportation planning, but has largely been ignored by transportation policy planners. This benign neglect by those agencies and bureaus whose purpose is to plan and maintain an integrated and comprehensive transportation system has left motorcyclists in a vulnerable position, and exposed to various hazards due to the view of those planning transportation policy that motorcycles are merely a dangerous and risky vehicle that must be dealt with only in the sphere of safety policy. This view does not even consider motorcycles as a viable option in virtually any major transportation policy. An example of this is the 2014, I-5 JBLM Vicinity Congestion Relief Study done for the Washington State Dept. of Transportation. In the entire 135 page study, the word motorcycle is not even mentioned once. In WADOT’s 2015 Corridor Congestion Report, motorcycles are only mentioned once in the 50 pages of the report. Even then it is simply as part of a list of ‘alternate commute’ methods of drivers over 16.
Motorcycles have been so completely relegated to only being a safety concern, that they are virtually non-existent when it comes to being part of a comprehensive transportation plan. This is not the case everywhere. In the UK, the National Council of Police Chiefs, Highway England, and the Motorcycle Industry Council have formed a partnership and created a ‘Motorcycle Framework’ (www.motorcycleframework.co.uk) to help motorcycles become a fully integrated mode of transportation. It would appear to be making strides in both reduction of congestion, decreasing overall greenhouse gas emissions, and a reduction in highway fatalities. This ongoing effort is aimed at changing the attitudes of transportation policy planners, decrease the vulnerability of motorcyclists, while reducing motorcycle casualties as well.
The Northamptonshire County Council is a prime example of how motorcycles can be integrated into a comprehensive transportation policy. On their website, regarding motorcycles they state; “As part of our modal shift strategy Northamptonshire County Council embraces motorcycles and scooters as a sustainable transport mode within the countywide transport programme. Greater use of motorcycles can bring environmental, congestion and accessibility benefits particularly on journeys made for commuting to places of employment or education."
The inclusion of motorcycles; along with public transportation, light rail, bicycles, and even pedestrian commuting, open up a wide and varied array of options currently apparently not even ‘on the radar’of transportation planners. Currently one of the key concerns in many urban centers is one of parking. One of the benefits of publicly promoting the use of motorcycles in commuting is that multiple motorcycles can safely park in the space generally taken up by one car. By promoting the use of motorcycles for commuting, parking space in urban areas can effectively be increased many fold for little or no cost for parking infrastructure.
By integrating motorcycles more comprehensibly into transportation policy would allow the development of the motorcycle as a viable alternative to the automobile to single occupant commuters. This would also provide an alternate avenue for users of crowded public transport to vacate seats which could then in turn be filled by drivers unwilling to ride a motorcycle. This opportunity to set motorcycle safety into a proper context which would unleash the benefits to the public of more comprehensively integrated Transportation Dept./Dept. of Licensing proposals that would lead the way for the effort to reduce the number of traffic incidents, and reduce rider vulnerability.
Think about it.
Catch you on the road sometime…
Motorcycles have been so completely relegated to only being a safety concern, that they are virtually non-existent when it comes to being part of a comprehensive transportation plan. This is not the case everywhere. In the UK, the National Council of Police Chiefs, Highway England, and the Motorcycle Industry Council have formed a partnership and created a ‘Motorcycle Framework’ (www.motorcycleframework.co.uk) to help motorcycles become a fully integrated mode of transportation. It would appear to be making strides in both reduction of congestion, decreasing overall greenhouse gas emissions, and a reduction in highway fatalities. This ongoing effort is aimed at changing the attitudes of transportation policy planners, decrease the vulnerability of motorcyclists, while reducing motorcycle casualties as well.
The Northamptonshire County Council is a prime example of how motorcycles can be integrated into a comprehensive transportation policy. On their website, regarding motorcycles they state; “As part of our modal shift strategy Northamptonshire County Council embraces motorcycles and scooters as a sustainable transport mode within the countywide transport programme. Greater use of motorcycles can bring environmental, congestion and accessibility benefits particularly on journeys made for commuting to places of employment or education."
The inclusion of motorcycles; along with public transportation, light rail, bicycles, and even pedestrian commuting, open up a wide and varied array of options currently apparently not even ‘on the radar’of transportation planners. Currently one of the key concerns in many urban centers is one of parking. One of the benefits of publicly promoting the use of motorcycles in commuting is that multiple motorcycles can safely park in the space generally taken up by one car. By promoting the use of motorcycles for commuting, parking space in urban areas can effectively be increased many fold for little or no cost for parking infrastructure.
By integrating motorcycles more comprehensibly into transportation policy would allow the development of the motorcycle as a viable alternative to the automobile to single occupant commuters. This would also provide an alternate avenue for users of crowded public transport to vacate seats which could then in turn be filled by drivers unwilling to ride a motorcycle. This opportunity to set motorcycle safety into a proper context which would unleash the benefits to the public of more comprehensively integrated Transportation Dept./Dept. of Licensing proposals that would lead the way for the effort to reduce the number of traffic incidents, and reduce rider vulnerability.
Think about it.
Catch you on the road sometime…
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