Motorbike Privileges and 39 Points

Trawling the BBC News website this morning I found an article about a biker from Southampton who's been banned from riding and recieved 39 points on his license.

He'd been caught speeding on camera, seven times in the space of a month; sometimes the camera has even managed to catch him pulling a wheelie.

As bikes have no front numberplate, the BBC report says that police eventually managed to catch him thanks to his flashy jacket, of which there are only two in the country.

Bikers already get a bad rap in the press, and are stereotyped as ignoring the rules of the road and seeing themselves as invicible. With a story like this, questions about motorbike rules could become an issue again.

Everyone, whether on a bike or in a car, has pushed the boundaries of the speed limit from time to time. Yet on a bike, riders are somehow more distictive and prone to critisism about speed.

There is an inate negativity that all bikers face from the rest of the public, and by showing a lack of respect for the cameras, it can also be seen as showing a lack of respect for other riders.

The motorcycle community is already facing the possibility of stricter testing, stricter rules and regulations, and stricter costs of keeping a bike on the road.

Drawing attention to the privileges of riding is something that needs to be avoided: through this stunt he may have lost his right to ride, but he may also have an impact on the right of others to ride.

Profiting From The Credit Crunch

As the financial markets start to tumble and the western world fears a recession, not everyone feels so glum.

President Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced that while America has started to decline, the Iranians should get ready to 'manage the world'.

So far the share prices on the Tehran stock exchange have hardly been affected by the credit crunch that is reaching the West.

In fact, many stockbrokers are seeing the crisis as an opportunity for their country, and a prime investment time.

Mr Ahmadinejad has said that the crisis will not affect his country, and that they have excess amounts of cash in the economy.

One of the senior clerics in Iran , Ayatollah Jannati, has said to BBC News "we are very happy that America's economy is in jeopardy and they are paying the price for their misdeeds. God is punishing them".

Foreign investors however are unlikely to be successful if they want to invest in the country. Foreigners need government approval if they wish to invest, and this proccess takes at least a month.

However many have warned the country that it will not be long before they are also hit by the crisis, and the chances are that it will be worse for Iran than it is for America.

Saeed Layez, one of Iran's outspoken economists said to BBC News that it will be worse for their country "because of the oil price and our dependency on oil income".

The country has faced high inflation as well as high unemployment for a long time, and the fact that property prices are likely to fall if the financial crisis does hit could be a good thing for the poorer classes.

New Motorbike Test Mess Up

For over a year now, potential motorcylists have been warned that a new test would be in place by the end of September. Yet the date has come and gone and nothing is ready.

Although I've ridden for nearly 3 years, I took my Standard Access test just 5 months ago, with the warning ringing in my ears and in the hope of beating the clock. It worked; I now have a restricted license and Fylix the GS500F sitting outside my halls.

Yet the warning seems to have been all for nothing. Motorbike students have been asked to pay £80 to include the new test, but from the first day the DVLA had to admit it wasn't ready.

The test consists of a series of manouvres, such as a slalom and various breaking exercises, designed to help new riders learn to avoid potential accidents when out on the road.

It is supposed to "improve the standard of road safety for motorcycle and moped riders" and is aimed at complying with EU legislation. In theory, it's a good idea but it seems putting it into practice has been a headache.

Even while I was taking my test, there were mutterings among my instructors about the problems with the sites themselves. It seemed there weren't enough sites; the nearest site would involve a 3 hour road trip, and the BBC picked up on the problems.

For those who missed the deadline and shelled out the full £80, there'll be no refund. We're told thats the cost of the old test version now, though it seems it's more to avoid an administration nightmare.

In fact the DSA have announced that the whole thing is going to be pushed back to March 2009, so they can create more sites. So when you break it down, we've had a year to warn us that the cost of passing your test is going up.

Now it's just a case of wait and see if it'll go ahead next March: but I can say for certain I won't be holding my breath.

Twin Towers All Over Again

Earlier I watched footage of 911 that I previously hadn't seen. Watching the incident again for the first time in 7 years was a haunting experience.

I saw the footage as part of an exercise imagining that it was the first time I had seen it, and tried to write simply what I saw. This is what I wrote:

A plane has just crashed into the second of the twin towers and a huge fireball has taken over the top floors. All you can see is a plume of dark grey smoke rising from the top, and a large hole in the side of the building.

There are people hanging out of the windows in the topmost floors and on the ground, everyone is trying to get away from the falling debris. There is smoke and dust everywhere and the firefighters are on site trying to combat the massive flames consuming the building.

One of the towers has just collapsed! All you can see now is a large cloud of dust and smoke covering the surrounding buildings from sight and billowing out.

The dust has completely covered the camera, obscuring the view. Once it settles you can see that those that have been caught inside the cloud, the cars and the road are thickly covered in ash, or dust.

All you can hear are sirens as police, ambulances and fire engines rush to the scene, while the streets are devoid of the normal hustle and bustle.

Although this post is different from what will be my normal topic, I felt that it was worth including...the sight of the Towers collapsing again, and watching the start of our war on terrorism.

Introducing...Fylix

I'm a 23 year-old broadcast journalism student studying in London, with a passion I felt worthy of creating a blog around. That passion is motorbikes.

However, passion doesn't always mean knowledge, and although I know enough to 'get by' I'm hoping to learn more. The clue's in the first line: I'm a student. I'll just be studying more than journalism.

I don't subscribe to the typical image of a biker either, unless of course you add the word 'chick' to the mix. I'm a female rider and proud of it: after all, judging from the stares I get there don't seem to be many of us.

I've never shaved my hair off (or had it long and greasy for that matter), I don't chain-smoke and I'm certainly not a hell raiser. I've never wheelied past a camera (or wheelied at all to be honest) and as of yet, I've never 'flipped the bird' at anyone else on the road.

Whats a young, female, (relatively) polite student doing out on two wheels then? It's all thanks to an old boyfriend of mine who gave me the courage to jump on and fall in love.

It's not just bikes I'll blog about either. There's so much going on that I find interesting, so why not write about what interests me. Maybe it'll interest others too!

I may be no expert but I'm passionate and keen to learn more about bikes. Anything I find interesting I'll be blogging about, along with the day to day trials and tribulations facing bike riders. So watch this space; hopefully I can learn off you and you may even find out a thing or two from me.

So finally, who's Fylix then? She's my bike of course.