Dark Visors - BMF calls on new minister to act

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Eamonn Townsend

Dark Visors - BMF calls on new minister to act

Post by Eamonn Townsend »

Concerned over the continuing delays in publishing research in to the use of tinted visors by motorcyclists, the BMF has wasted no time in writing to new Transport Minister David Jamieson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, urging prompt action on this vital safety topic.

Pointing out that his predecessor Lord Whitty, as Chairman of the Advisory Group for Motorcycling (AGM), had been unable to resolve the issue, the BMF now hoped that the new Minister could force the revised DETR (now Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions - DTLR) to publish the research.

Welcoming Mr Jamieson to his new post, the BMF say they are looking forward to working with him on motorcycling topics but that the issue of the current illegality of what the BMF see as a valuable safety aid, is in need of urgent resolution.

The BMF point out that although the research findings had been in the possession of the DETR for sometime and despite the Interim Report of the Advisory group on Motorcycling saying it would be published, the research has remained under wraps.

Recent DETR suggestions that further research now needs to be carried out in poor light conditions is ridiculous and a waste of public money say the BMF. The BSI Eye Protector Sub-Committee (on which the BMF sits) has already agreed that no visor with any degree of tint could be used at night or in poor light and that such visors should be permanently marked as such.

Spokesman Jeff Stone said: "This delay is unacceptable and unnecessary. We want to see the completed research now. It was promised, so where is it? We can only suspect the DETR's motives."

The BMF hope that the new Minister can resolve an increasing and unnecessarily complex situation by ensuring that the findings of the ICE report are at least made public and that a rational policy towards tinted visors is followed by the new DTLR.

NB. Originally commissioned by the DETR from the Institute of Consumer Ergonomics (ICE) at Loughborough University, the research aimed to ascertain the effects on safety and comfort in the use of motorcycle visors with tints of less than 50% light transmittance (far lighter than many sunglasses).
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