Brussels, 17/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Motorcyclists are resolutely opposed to obligatory technical checks for motorbikes and have communicated this to the European Commission with 110,000 signatures for support. The petition was signed by motorcycle riders from the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Ireland, Norway and Denmark, in response to a Commission consultation sounding out their opinions on the possibility of extending obligatory regular checks to motorcycles.
In the view of the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA), which carried out the campaign, the response is clear: there is no advantage in terms of safety for motorcycles to be subject to these checks, and could lead to unjustified additional costs to be borne by the riders. According to the association, there is no conclusive proof that a measure of this kind would have any positive impact on safety, as just 0.3% of motorcycle accidents are caused by technical problems.
Additionally, the association notes no improvement in the figures of countries which do have mandatory checks for motorcycles, and feels that the choice should therefore be left up to the national governments. When the petition was handed to the cabinet of the European commissioner for transport, Siim Kallas, the secretary general of FEMA, Aline Delhaye, said that “the European Union should instead focus on the real issues if it wants to improve safety: training, driver behaviour and infrastructure”. (MD/transl.fl)