The safety benefits of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes are not clear. Where data is available, the evidence varies. The response rate to this consultation from local authorities and stakeholder organisations was low and did not provide a robust evidence base to amend current policy.

To form the evidence base for a change in policy, further research would be needed into the:

• safety impacts of allowing motorcycles into bus lanes
• impact on bus services

As a result, there is little justification for moving away from a position of local authority choice to one in which allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes is the default.

The consultation did highlight issues of uncertainty in urban areas where permissions change frequently at borough boundaries. We will work with local authorities to achieve greater consistency in these areas.

Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/motorcycles-in-bus-lanes

The Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have launched ‘Realising the Motorcycling Opportunity; a motorcycle safety and transport policy framework’, which has been developed in response to a slowdown in the reduction in rider casualties.

ACPO and MCIA say “encouraging rather than discouraging motorcycling should contribute to better safety outcomes”, pointing to European data which shows that when a greater percentage of traffic is made up of motorcycles, mopeds or scooters, riders are less likely to be involved in an accident.The policy document calls for motorcycles to be included in mainstream transport policy and sets out a framework of practical recommendations addressing how this might be achieved.

The partners also say there is a “growing body of evidence” which shows that if more people started their road careers on a motorcycle, scooter or moped, this would lead to improvements in driver behaviour towards all vulnerable road users.Measures called for in the paper include: education for all road users; one theory test for all road users (currently there are different tests for motorcyclists and car drivers); compulsory road user awareness lessons within the school curriculum; and a culture of post-test training for all vehicle modes.

Copies of the policy can be found in the Guidelines resources section