Louvain-la-Neuve, 18/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the fringe of the Informal Transport and Environment Council of the European Union, held on Saturday in Louvain-la-Neuve (see yesterday's EUROPE, pages 7 and 8), the European Cyclists' Federation gave a memorandum to the Belgian Transport Minister, Isabelle Durant. In the memorandum they call for bicycles to be included in European transport policy. "Bicycles are part of the transport chain in Europe and represent 5% of journeys made in the EU, that is five times more than journeys by rail and fifty times more than air travel, stress the cyclists' association. Bicycles must therefore be considered as a real means of transport and be integrated in the common transport policy, states the ECF. "There is no reason why no effort should be made to develop this kind of transport at European level as transport is part of Community competence", stresses Marie Caroline Coppieters, lawyer and member of the ECF. The promotion of intermodality at European level should mean that rail stations are fitted out to receive those travelling with bicycles and that bicycles may be easily boarded on trains, including high speed trains such as Thalys or Eurostar, says the cyclists' memorandum. "It is unacceptable that it is not possible to take a bicycle on the Thalys between Brussels and Paris", says Marie Caroline Coppieters.
The European Federation of Cyclists also calls for bicycles to be taken into account in the context of the European security policies and industrial normalisation. It mainly urges for rapid adoption of an amendment to Directive 71/127, so that rear view mirrors in heavy vehicles cover all blind angles. It also advocates an amendment to Directive 89/297, so that heavy vehicles have lateral guards preventing cyclists or pedestrians from sliding under the vehicle in the case of a lateral collision. The ECF is an umbrella organisation for 40 associations in 25 countries.