The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called upon motorcycle manufactures to heighten anti-theft designs on bikes to help cut down the rising increase of motorcycle theft. The mayor shared his opinions on the matter with several manufactures such as BMW, Honda and Suzuki in a City Hall meeting on 23 January based around moped crime.
The Mayor strongly emphasised that big manufacturers should take more responsibility for the issue and their customers safety by making these machines harder to steal in the first place. “Today I am bringing manufacturers and partners together to help us stamp it out once and for all.” He said. “Motorcycle related crime is reckless, frightening, intimidating and will not be tolerated in the capital.”
“It is essential that the manufacturers step up to help us tackle this problem at the source. Put simply, the design of motorcycles make them far too easy to steal and this must be dealt with head-on at the point of design if we are to rid our streets of these crimes.”
According to figures from the London Mayors Office, motorcycle theft and crime has seen a significant increase with over 14,000 motorcycles being stolen in the capital of London alone last year, with a further 23,430 crimes being committed on motorcycles. This is an eye watering 163% increase on the year before.
“We welcome any initiatives that make stealing these vehicles as hard as possible to curtail the criminal actions of these offenders. This includes working with industry, manufacturers, insurance companies and the motorcycle industry association to identify what can be done to prevent theft and to see what theft prevention measures can be designed into these vehicles for the future,” said the MET Territorial Policing Commander, Julian Bennet, on the matter.
So, what do you think motorcycle manufacturers should do about this rising issue, or do you think the solution lies elsewhere? I’d love to know your thoughts, let me know in the comments section below. You can also head over to the Mayor of London website to see the full press release.
