MAG resists pillion ban

Campaigners aiming to ban anyone under 16 from riding pillion should not be allowed to force through a change in the law – says pro-bike group MAG.

A 3000-name petition, with the backing of a local MP in East Sussex, wants children banned from the back seat after the death of an eight-year-old who was on the back of a Honda.

But MAG says, “As tragic as the death of any child is for a parent, the issue of whether the Government should ban children from riding on motorcycles needs to be weighted against the background of the facts and with cool heads.”

MAG is now surveying its members and adds: “If we look at the risk factor relating to young pillion riders, in 2003 two pillion passengers under the age of 16 were killed in motorcycle accidents. MAG regards the existing legislation to be adequate.”

MAG says that in the case which has sparked the campaign the child’s parents did not know that he was being taken out on the back of a bike or that he was wearing an ill-fitting adult helmet.

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The Department of Transport says it has no current plans to change the law.

Young Pillion Riders: Should they be banned? Is available here.