Have you seen this Government survey?

MORE than 30,000 riders have been sent Government surveys to try and study our behaviour on the roads.

Many concerned recipients have been in touch with us to find why the Government is carrying out the survey because there are a handful of leading questions.

Among other things, it wants to know how often we wheelie, ” wheel spin ” , get involved in unofficial races with mates and ” just go for it ” on country roads.

The Department for Transport insists the initiative has come from its road safety division and the results will be used to tailor its road safety campaigns more effectively.

Even the BMF backs the survey, applauding the Government for trying to find out what really affects bikers, rather than relying on hearsay.

But biking Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik isn’t so chuffed with the idea.

He said: ” This information could be used to justify a clamp down on bikes. Some of the questions beggar belief.

” I have a problem with the way the answers can be used. The last thing I can see this information being used for will be to make life easier for bikers, ” he added.

Opik has written to the secretary of state for transport to find out why the questionnaire has been sent out – and to ask for a pledge that the results won’t be used to justify anti-bike legislation.

We have obtained an Acrobat file of the survey, which you can download by clicking on this link: http://prizes.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/misc/MotorcycleQnew.pdf

If you’re happy with the survey and want to be part of the research, print a copy, fill it in and post it to Tony Hoare at MCN, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA.

We’ll forward it to the Transport Research Laboratory, which is compiling the survey, and bring you the results of motorcyclenews.com users’ surveys.