November update

Call to action: The aim of CANS has to be visibly supported by many more people than we currently have so we can make the authorities realise the true scale of the issue. It is very clear they will only meaningfully respond when there are significant numbers of residents which raises the impact on the politicians. It cannot simply be left to the “handful” of volunteers within CANS because we cannot create the momentum required to influence the authorities on our own. CANs would like to request every recipient of this update completes the following two actions:

• Write to your local MP to raise the issues of noisy bikes and the personal disruption, discomfort it is causing you

• Report ALL noisy bikes and inconsiderate/dangerous riding to the authorities via the 101 number

Activity update: CANS met with Hampshire County Council and the Highway Police Unit earlier in 2019 to continue to raise the issues and to gain their support to drive actions within their control. This led to a number of actions by the authorities:

• The Police mounted 11 campaigns over the summer period with varying degrees of success stopping and dealing with 70 cars and vans, and 119 motorcycles. Resulting in (there is a difference between the numbers for enforcement and numbers stopped due to some offenders being dealt with for multiple offences):

• 123 x T60 (endorsable reports with £100 fine and 3 points)
• 71 x T61 (non-endorsable reports with fines only)
• 3 x drug drivers were arrested (1 of which was also a drink driver)
• 78 x speed offences
• 46 x exhaust offences
• 9 x registration mark offences (majority for letterbox style number plates)
• 26 x visor offences
• 1 x mudguard offence
• 1 x lighting compliance
• 2 x tyres compliance
• 28 x offences of contravening double white lines
• 5 x driving without due care offences (manner of driving)
• 2 x insurance offences
• 2 x driving other than in accordance with a licence (not correct licence or type)
• 2 x seatbelt offences
• 2 x vehicles seized
• 3 x vehicles prohibited (defects to be fixed before being driven/ridden again)
• 3 x arrests (impairment) and all three should end up being disqualified by the court

• What is not recorded are the number of interactions whereby advice was given out to motorists, along with some very good video footage seized from one motorcyclist of his antics on the A32, along with two recorded incidents of travelling in excess of 100mph.
• A member of CANS spent a morning touring the local roads in the Meon Valley and surrounding area to highlight the illogical signposting, speed limits and road furniture which creates an unclear driving experience, as well as potential locations for average speed cameras, to try and get some changes implemented. We are scheduling a further meeting with the County Council to get an update on their proposed actions.

CANS was instrumental in achieving two television articles on the BBC, the most comprehensive being on Inside Out South on 16th September, which featured the blight on residents’ lives created both by noisy bikes and inconsiderate riding. Whilst it can be argued these did not improve the situation it definitely raised the profile of the issue and prompted a number of people outside of the Meon Valley area to contact CANS to enquire as to how we can help them tackle their local issue

We are aware a number of local authorities across the UK are investigating and testing acoustic cameras and these could provide a very efficient manner in which to control vehicles which are outside of the statutory noise parameters. Along with the use of average speed cameras these will offer a very efficient and less resource hungry solution to managing the inconsiderate behaviour and noise, at the expense of the other law abiding, bikers who visit the area.

One of the results of the BBC articles is we need to clearly message we are not anti-bikes and recognise many, many bikers ride responsibly, and do not have modified exhausts, and thus do not cause noise pollution for many of the villages and towns on key riding routes.

Communicating with the biking community highlights many of them are equally frustrated with the poor attitudes of some within their community and the negative attitudes it creates when all they want to do is enjoy the riding experience of our beautiful area. Equally we are not anti-Loomies and appreciate they do try to support responsible riding from their customers.

Whilst the key riding season is now over, we are working towards pressuring the authorities to mount similar campaigns in the 2020 Spring and Summer seasons whilst continuing the quest to install an automated solution which means we have continuous monitoring rather than sporadic spot-checks.

Advice for those not in the immediate CANS area: As a result of the summer publicity CANS has been contacted by a number of people in other areas of the UK which are equally disrupted by inconsiderate riders. We have put together the following action points which could be completed in your local area to try and drive change:

• Setup a group similar to CANS
• Assemble as much data as possible to support your claims
  • Roads which are affected
  • Number of bikes and on which key days
  • Number of supporting residents
• Contact your local MP to raise:
  • The issues of excessive noise and speeds using the assembled data.
  • Raise the legislative inconsistencies between bikes and cars in respect of the law:
    • There is a disparity between the way noise emissions are measured and enforced in the MOT between cars and bikes.
    • There is a misalignment for the enforcement of riding or driving considerately and within the law, e.g. speed traps and speed cameras are often forward facing but most bikes do not have forward facing number plates and cannot be identified if they are over the speed limit.
    • Because these are covered by central legislation, we need to make a “bigger noise” with our local MPs so they can raise the matter in Parliament to effect change so the law is able to be enforced equally for cars and bikes by the relevant authorities through legislation.
• Contact and gain support from all of the affected Parish Councils along with the responsible County and District Councillors
• Contact the local Police Roads Unit to highlight the issues and gain their commitment to complete roadside campaigns
• Contact the BBC and request they do a similar piece to that covered on BBC South which significantly raised the profile

Thank you and kind regards from The CANS Committee