Repeal the European Communities Act.
Theresa May has said she is to introduce a “Great Repeal Bill” in the next Queen’s Speech that will overturn the act that took the UK into the EU.
It will remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book and end the supremacy in Britain of EU law.
I’ve been waiting for this since 1972. Well, looks like the wait is over. Good. Get on with it and get us out of this nasty, undemocratic club and its plethora of idiotic legislation.
The government will also enshrine all existing EU law into British law and anything deemed unnecessary will be abolished later.
Er, no, repeal it now. We have too much law. Far too much. We were promised a great repeal act – a bonfire no less six years ago. We are still waiting. Repeal, repeal, repeal and do it now.
On a personal level, there is talk that Brexit will mean that we may see an end to the staged motorcycle licence. Good. The current arrangements are patently absurd – expecting a candidate to keep repeating the same test up to three times on different machines. Bloody stupid. There is talk of using training bodies as assessors to upgrade licences. (Source – BMF magazine, not online, unfortunately). Now, that makes perfect sense.
Still, this morning the news contains reasons to enjoy a quiet celebration – and I expect parliament to enact the will of the people who vote and pay for them.
“On a personal level, there is talk that Brexit will mean that we may see an end to the staged motorcycle licence. Good. The current arrangements are patently absurd – expecting a candidate to keep repeating the same test up to three times on different machines. Bloody stupid. There is talk of using training bodies as assessors to upgrade licences. (Source – BMF magazine, not online, unfortunately). Now, that makes perfect sense.”
Back in 1983 when I did my (2 part) test I was an advocate of bringing in a ‘mid test’ based on horsepower and capacity. The reasoning was based on the fact that someone could go straight from a 125 to something like a 1300 without regard for their capabilities of handling the extra weight, bulk and power. I had a friend die this way.
Now I’m not so sure. I was happy when I saw things begin to change but they seem to have just got complex and costly, rather than what I had first imagined, that a candidate who had passed on a 125 would then be limited to, say, 500cc, beyond which they would have to go back to the training school for an assessment. Pure and simple, it would be you guys who decided whether the candidate was capable, but the laws changed so much, for example the motorcycle licence classes – in my day there were two, moped and bike – how many now? Having a full car licence enables you to ‘fast track’ etc. I don’t understand them any more, moreover, what does having a full car licence have to do with motorcycle proficiency?
A1 – 125cc
A2 – up to 47bhp
A – Above 47bhp.
You can take the A1 at 17 onward, the A2 at 19 and the full A at 24. If you do the staged approach and do a test for each category, you shave a couple of years off and can have a full A licence at 21. But you take exactly the same two-part test each time. Sheer bloody stupidity.
There is talk of allowing learners to ride larger machines than 125cc unsupervised, which is a good idea. For larger riders a 250 would be ideal. Mind you, this capacity restriction cannot be blamed on the EU – this one really was Thatcher’s fault.
You get a full moped licence providing you do a CBT – unless you have grandfather rights having taken the car test prior to 2001. You can ride it without L plates and carry a pillion providing both of you are brave enough.
As an expatriate I’m very much looking forward to changing my UK (EU) passport into a UK (GB) passport. If this means I will need a visa to travel around the EU states, then so be it. As for the ‘great repeal act’ I’ll believe it when I see it, but am modestly encouraged by the news.
As for motorcycling, I’ve always felt that learning to drive on two wheels properly before being allowed to get anywhere near the wheel of a car would be a great boon to road safety. Simply because learning to ride a powered two wheeler necessarily improves hazard perception and all around road awareness.
1975, test on a borrowed 175 bantam, passed. Returned home, discarded Bantam, took to the road on a 650 Triton café racer.
The difference is now the traffic density has increased vastly and the mindset of a lot of road users has changed. What was once a cheeky manoeuvre has now evolved into an aggressive one. aggression causes the most accidents on the road, the “it’s my divine right to cut you up if I perceive you are impeding my progress”. prevails in a lot.
The key to successful motorcycling is to assume, as soon as you get on it, Is everyone is trying to kill you,
“The key to successful motorcycling is to assume, as soon as you get on it, Is everyone is trying to kill you,”
At the risk of derailing the discussion [LR – as our esteemed host, I shan’t be in the least offended if you delete to prevent such :-)], this is an essential piece of advice of bicyclists also. Pedal-cyclists have the problem that we can only rarely match the speed of traffic so the “you are impeding my progress” is a grave threat.
The biggest learning I have had over the years is that, if the driver you’re concerned about (who is about to pull out of a junction ahead of you for example) has not looked you in the eye, they have behave as though you are not there. They have NOT seen you. This goes in spades for a driver that appears to be almost deliberately avoiding making eye contact.
I’d be interested to know if that’s the case for motorbikes – or are there some truly vindictive people out there that will look you in the eye as a precursor to running you off the road?
Yes, it is the case for motorcycles too. A loud horn helps.
Concur. I have always ridden that way. I also take a leaf out of “The Pedant General’s” book when it comes all road users – I assume that they haven’t seen me.
I seem to recall that a big factor in the change from 250cc down to 125cc for learner motorcyclists was the Suzuki 250X7. When you consider the kinds of awful plodders that were the 250s of the time when the 250cc limit was brought in, a 250 that was advertised as being capable of 100mph would obviously horrify the politicians. This was especially true as teenagers killing and maiming themselves on motorcycles was an issue at the time. The government was also wise enough to realise that, progress being what it is, given another ten years there would be 125s that could do the ton. Hence the 12 horsepower limit.
I remember the X7 and the RD250LC. However, there were other suitable 250s that were ideal learner machines. The 125/12bhp law, was, like many laws, a blunt instrument. These days, these bikes are under powered and unsuitable for larger riders. A 250 would be much better. And, bear in mind, I am teaching people to ride on 600cc machines with 80-90bhp… And, yes, they are far better for people to learn on than a 125, for they have better power to weight ratio, are better balanced and handle better, have better brakes and more rubber on the road.
I’m not sure I would use “government” and “wise” in the same sentence, though…
Odd that. I – very unfortunately (on account I usually get shot to bits) 0 have an enormous soft spot for 50cc machines. But not the restricted things they have on the roads at the moment. (By the by I actually ride an SH 300 Honda and have an Aprilia Scarabeo 100 2T. The 100 is the closest I can get to one – legally).
For me it’s down to weight and the fact I ride the little one in town.
Anyway I sort of had a go at this very topic last month. Forget the first bit, it’s the part headed: “Driving Licences. Mopeds, Motorbikes, Scooters and Cars”.
Pretty well mirrors what most of you guys have been saying but with a twist, because I do believe that by treating us all like little children there is a downside.
http://www.mullingscot.com/delaying-adulthood-in-uk.html
I thought that all EU law was already enshrined in British law as part of the “process” of making EU directives “look like” home laws as a smokescreen. Isn’t that how it works? The EU chuck out a directive, and then each member state’s government puts it through whatever its usual “process” is to pass laws, so that the great unwashed public to whom the directive will apply won’t realise that it’s emanated from the EU and will thus get cross with their own government, rather than the EU. A rather cunning means of the EU getting someone else to do their dirty work for them and to take all the flack for it, which fooled a lot of people for a long time. I always thought that that is why some Remainers have stayed so blindly devoted to the institution of the EU – because they simply haven’t yet got wise to this political slight-of-hand and are still busily blaming the Government for passing laws over which they actually have very little say.
But maybe not. If EU directives are already “enshrined” then I guess there’d be no need to “enshrine” them again. Perhaps this new “enshrinement,” from some legal/constitutional perspective, makes them easier to repeal. Hopefully.