(Bradford South) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require quad bike
riders on public highways to wear helmets; to make provision
about the registration of quad bikes; to make provision about the
dangerous and anti-social use of quad bikes; and for connected
purposes.
The Bill will promote safe use of road-legal quads and reduce the
number of off-road quads on our streets by making the wearing of
helmets compulsory, making necessary the installation of vehicle
immobilisers, making registration of all quad bikes compulsory
and empowering police to remove problem off-road quads from our
streets permanently. I thank the many stakeholders who have
worked with me on the Bill: West Yorkshire police, the West
Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for policing and crime, the Royal College
of Policing, the National Farmers Union, Brake, the Royal Society
for the Prevention of Accidents and the Parliamentary Advisory
Council for Transport Safety.
The constant, loud, piercing drone of quad bikes is an all too
familiar sound in many of our towns and cities. These vehicles
have important and legitimate uses in agriculture and related
industries, but they are tools, not toys, and their careless,
reckless and unsafe use on our streets is a menace. My
constituents have had enough. Most issues are not caused by
road-legal quad bikes, which, like any road vehicle, must be
registered, have an MOT and be driven by a responsible adult with
a licence and insurance. Instead, our streets are plagued by
quads legal only for off-road use, which do not require
registration. Most off-road quads are not approved for use on
public highways precisely because they do not meet road safety
standards. The lack of registration also means that they are
harder to trace by police.
The antisocial use of quads centres in cities and the suburbs,
but the vehicles used are often stolen from farms. The National
Farmers Union sees it as a particular problem and estimates that
some 1,100 quad bikes are stolen from farms each year, costing
farmers upwards of £3 million. If just a fraction of those end up
on public roads, that is hundreds of illegal quads running
rampant on our streets. These vehicles are designed for herding
animals in fields, not tearing up tarmac in our towns and
cities.
Data from West Yorkshire police shows that antisocial quad use is
a growing problem. There were over 10,000 reports of antisocial
use of quads and bikes in West Yorkshire in 2021, a shocking 42%
rise on the previous year.
The problems of antisocial quads are threefold. At the most basic
level, they are a disruptive and persistent noise nuisance. Just
one antisocial quad rider ripping through a neighbourhood will
disturb hundreds and hundreds of residents. That constant noise
causes distress to residents and undermines public confidence in
our police. They also damage the local landscape, tearing up
fields, green spaces, embankments and parks. Only last week, a
constituent contacted me about a convoy of no fewer than seven
quads racing between families on park space. On more than one
occasion, community sports groups in my constituency have had to
cancel or postpone matches and training because of damage to
their local playing fields from quads. Most seriously, they are a
risk to other road users, pedestrians and the drivers themselves.
Only last year in Bradford, a man was killed when his quad veered
and collided with another vehicle.
I recently spoke with a constituent who told me they had seen a
young person on a quad weaving through traffic on two wheels on a
busy A road in excess of 40 miles per hour, a danger to every
road user and pedestrian nearby. What was the rider’s choice of
headwear? Was it a helmet to protect their life? No, it was a
balaclava to protect their identity. I propose to make wearing a
helmet compulsory for all quad users on public highways. In
Northern Ireland, it is already a requirement. Why that is not
the case in the rest of the United Kingdom is a mystery. The
argument is self-evident: when the worst happens, the results are
catastrophic. A quad user is twice as likely as someone in a car
to get into an accident in the first place and then is 10 times
more likely to be seriously injured or killed. The compulsory
wearing of helmets would make the law consistent with that for
other similar vehicles.
Police have powers to seize these vehicles, such as under section
165A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 for unlicensed or uninsured
vehicles, and under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 for
vehicles used antisocially, but they still face an uphill
struggle. The police will always prioritise public safety. Where
they judge they cannot risk injury to pedestrians, other road
users, the rider or their officers, they will not give chase to
quads. So to take action, police must link a quad being used
antisocially to an owner with an address. That can take hundreds
and hundreds of hours of police time, piecing together official
reports from members of the public, scouring community
intelligence on social media or reviewing CCTV from businesses
such as petrol stations for that one frame showing the rider’s
face, all to make a strong enough case to act.
That work does get results. For example, in my neighbouring city
of Leeds, after a ride out involving over 100 vehicles in 2016,
police were able to take action that resulted in 13 convictions,
with sentences between 12 months and two years. However, it is
labour-intensive and should any one link in the chain break, the
police can do little. Yet effective changes can be made to help
the police and will reduce the number of illegal quads on our
streets. Unlike for cars, the installation of immobilisers is not
a legal requirement. That vital piece of technology has been
required in all cars since 1998. The device provides an
additional layer of security and makes it that much harder for
opportunistic thieves to make away with them. By making
immobilisers a requirement, we make theft harder and reduce the
number of quads getting on to our streets in the first place.
My Bill also proposes extending the registration scheme for
licensed road-legal quads to cover all quad bikes, including
those allowed for off-road use only. That establishes a clear
line of ownership right from the point of sale, which will help
police in their inquiries when investigating reports. It means
that, once seized, stolen quads can be more easily returned to
their rightful owner.
Finally, police will be empowered so that, once they have taken a
problem quad off the road, they can make sure it stays off the
road. I was astounded to learn from senior police officers that,
once a quad has been seized, police have little control over
where that vehicle ends up. If it was stolen and its rightful
owners can be found, it can be returned, but quads are frequently
sold at auction as proceeds of crime. Because of a lack of
registration and regulation, once a vehicle is sold, the police
are almost powerless to prevent it from ending up right back on
the very streets that it has been plaguing, starting the cycle
once again. We must break that cycle. The seize and release
approach is not working; police must be given the power to seize
and destroy nuisance quads, taking them off the streets
permanently.
We need to stop seeing these vehicles as toys. If we continue to
let them slip through the cracks in legislation, we will fail to
protect legitimate owners from needless theft, we will fail to
protect residents dealing with chronic noise and we will fail to
protect all road users and pedestrians who remain at risk. It is
time we brought in measures to provide consistency, protect road
users and legitimate owners of quads, and stop the blight of
their dangerous and antisocial use on our streets and paths. I
commend this motion to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 6
May, and to be printed (Bill 281).
