After the Second World War, bikes and motorbikes were a popular form of transportation. The weight of cars since this time has more than doubled, but motorcycles have been decreasing in weight and have become a large part of the food delivery service, although their by the youth has led to a large amount of anti-social activity in recent years. The increasing size of EV cars means more pollution and inefficiency in both the manufacturing and recycling process. Motorcycles, on the other hand, are more efficient and easier to service, and emphasis should be put on cycle routes in order to encourage this mode of transport.
Five years after the Second World War, there was still rationing in the UK. There were more motorbikes than cars on the roads and more than half of those had sidecars to carry family members. The majority of workers lived closer to their place of work, especially in heavy industry.
Given the austerity of post-war recovery, many travelled by bicycle, and those who travelled further or faster used small engines attached to strengthened bike frames with better brakes. There were many famous makes of both, such as Raleigh and BSA. Any moped or low-powered motorcycle is called a ‘Tiddler’ by those who still ride the bikes from the previous century, with limited horsepower. A BSA Bantam, launched in 1948, had a 125cc (cubic centimetres) engine capacity and could reach 48mph at a push. By 1951, the 50,000th had already been produced.
From small beginnings
The only car on the street was, like the first television, a thing to comment on and, in all truth, gave you bragging rights. The people’s cars were coming into their own, such as the Morris Minor in 1948 and later the Mini in 1959, all innovative designs that helped increase the mobility of people for work and pleasure. In the 1960s, the weight of a Mini was 600kg, and the weight of a gramophone player with record turntable and radio cabinet was as much as 40kg. Today, a BMW Mini is twice the weight, at 1400kg or more, whilst the gramophone has been reduced in weight by a hundred times to ear-portable dimensions.
There is growth evident in scooters for the delivery of food, but expensive larger motorcycles have declined in number on the road from new sales figures. The National Travel Survey indicates that in 2016, 2-3% of households had access to a motorcycle.
Retrospective legislation
We are now more aware of younger people on EV scooters and electric cycles, some of whom manage to cause a disproportionate nuisance when evidence from media coverage is compared to the clash of MODs and Rockers on seaside towns in the 1960s and 70s. ChronicleLive reported that, since the start of 2024, “North East officers have seized a total of 286 electric motorcycles, 132 electric scooters and 204 illegally adapted cycles.” This is an increasing trend. In 2023, in Ashington, there were 402 reported anti-social behaviour incidents. For the same year in Blyth, there were 378 incidents. I believe that this, like most crime, is significantly underreported. The person who wants to learn to ride legally and train with proper safety equipment has so many more financial hurdles to get on the road.
Arguments for smaller cars and motorcycles
Cars have doubled in mass, significantly because of the EV-Hybrid. They create more greenhouse pollution from their manufacture, especially because of the use of fossil fuels in countries where engines and other components are manufactured, simply because they are now heavier and more technologically advanced, using rare earth minerals to derive elements such as lithium, which requires a lot of refining. If access to faster and heavier cars correlates with more damaged roads, bridges and even multistorey car parks, they can only promote more problems ‘down the road’ for councils hard stretched in the North East.
EV batteries appear to be economic compared to the cost of petrol or diesel, but their recycling cost is not a prominent factor in their overall pricing. Because of their hazardous nature, they are not easily recycled. Although no longer considered a viable practice, a commonly discussed method for dealing with a damaged EV car with risk of fire was fully submerging it in a water-filled container, rendering the car effectively unrecyclable. That same problem will add to the same lithium battery littered landfill sites from domestic and recreational sources.
As an EV car battery’s energy storage capacity decreases with time, a replacement battery can be prohibitively expensive, rapidly reducing the car resale value and increasing the likelihood of their scrapping, which will have to be carried out in other countries, whose health and safety policies are not as stringent. A well-maintained diesel engine can achieve 200,000 miles; this mileage is highly unlikely for any EV or hybrid due to this reduction in battery efficiency.
Tiddlers are greener
In a time of austerity, the need to increase the safe use of motorcycles, demands better training and regulation. The market has proven the speed and flexibility of the small motorcycle in deliveries. There is a compelling argument for limiting the number of cars on the road and increasing the number of journeys by motorcycle through incentive schemes and legislation. The most compelling is that they are more easily and cheaply serviced, have lower tax and insurance and use less fuel. In the 1980s, Honda produced a series of step-through motorcycles from 50cc upwards, some of which could achieve 30mph, perfectly adequate for short journeys.
A modern 125cc machine can achieve 60mph and over twice the miles per litre of a modern 1 litre car engine. There are persuasive arguments for safer transport especially for babies, toddlers and those with special needs and the older generation. The need for more Tiddlers is compelling and a 100% increase in their use could only double the current motorcycle per home from 2% to 4%. As a region, we need to create space and safer routes for cyclists and motorcyclists.
