MAG Bikers are Voters

Operation Twistgrip, the campaign run by MAG in 1991-92, changed the way that politicians addressed the concerns of motorcyclists at the 1992 General Election.

In 1996-1997 MAG followed this successful campaign with the launch of "Bikers Are Voters" and campaigned for policy change at Government level by targeting individual election candidates and seeking their views on biking issues.

The political parties were made to realise that bikers had opinions which deserved to be listened to, had grievances which needed to be addressed and had votes which they were prepared to use.

With the general election on the horizon there was no guarantee that motorcyclists would get the fair deal that they deserved under the new legislature, in fact many policy statements made no mention of motorcycling's role in transport policy.

In order to redress the balance there was the need to ensure that before the election, every candidate knew about MAG, knew about motorcycling, realised that we had real voting power and expected the new Parliament to positively include motorcycling in future transport policy.

We had the ideal opportunity to influence the motorcycling views to our future Parliamentarians.

In the most recent General Election in 2005 MAG used the same "Bikers Are Voters" strategy and produced a "Manifesto for Motorcycling" along with the suggestion that there should be a "Minister for Motorcycling".

This has not been megaphone diplomacy but steady work in partnership to set out a clear programme of action for the future of motorcycle policies in the UK.

But we need to be ever vigilant as motorcycling continually faces a "vison zero" tolerance to accidents and the promotion of road safety through constrictive legislation.

MAG exists primarily to protect the rights of motorcyclists to enjoy riding without undue interference in the form of excessive legal requirements, particularly where those requirements interfere with the fun and exhilaration of riding motorcycles.

The demo runs and protests that have shaped MAG over thirty years have been useful tools leading MAG to the engagement we now have with authorities and politicians.

However we must not forget the roots of the megaphone diplomacy that has shaped MAG since 1973.

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