THE INITIAL RIDER TRAINING PROJECT
01 December 2004 - Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations

The international riders’ organisations, FEMA and FIM, and the motorcycle manufacturers’ association ACEM, are developing a European model for Initial Rider Training (IRT).

The objective of this EU co-funded project, which is also sponsored by Vägverket, the Swedish road traffic authority, is to ensure that the training needed for a rider to be able to obtain a motorcycle licence provides the range of necessary skills and knowledge.

The provision of initial rider training in Europe, that is the training needed to obtain the necessary knowledge and skills to safely ride a scooter or a motorcycle and to gain an A category licence, varies widely within the 25 Member States of the European Union.

Ranging from the virtually non-existent to the extensive and very expensive, the existing national arrangements often fail the trainee rider through concentrating on machine control skills and overlooking crucial areas such as rider attitude and behaviour and hazard awareness and avoidance.

These were among the conclusions of a study undertaken in 1997 by the then Federation of European Motorcyclists, now FEMA, which was supported by ACEM and FIM. Some of the problems it identified may have improved in some of the then 15 Member States. But it is generally believed that the expansion of the European Union has resulted in an overall worsening and a growing belief that the development of a European approach to initial rider training could make a considerable contribution to reducing accidents amongst this group of vulnerable road users.

This view was shared by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, who agreed to co-fund the project. This has been matched with contributions from ACEM, FEMA, FIM and Vägverket.

A Supervisory Board has been established. Comprising of leading experts from the range of disciplines needed to progress the objective of the IRT Project, the Supervisory Board will delegate tasks to the various specialities and oversee the work of the Project Co-ordinator.

ACEM, FEMA and FIM each have nominated a senior representative to Supervisory Board, as has Vägverket. Training providers are represented by the Vice-President of the international instructors’ organisation, who is the CEO of a leading Austrian rider/driver training school and the Director of a leading British rider training organisation. From a similar background the Commander of the Belgian police rider/driver training establishment has agreed to join the IRT Project Supervisory Board. A leading psychologist from the French Government’s transport research establishment has also agreed to join the Board. There is currently one position on the Supervisory Board that is unfilled. The search for a suitable expert from one of the ten new Member States is continuing.

Following a search for a suitably experienced person, ACEM, FEMA and FIM agreed to appoint Bob Tomlins as the Project Co-ordinator of the IRT Project. His experience in the positions of FEMA’s General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary, and as the Project Co-ordinator of the 1997 study and the author of the report entitled Initial Rider Training in Europe - the Views and the Needs of the Riders, make him eminently suited for the challenges of this new IRT Project. To enable Bob to concentrate on the IRT Project he has relinquished his main FEMA responsibilities.

''This really is an exciting development which has the potential to significantly reduce the number of accidents involving powered two-wheels riders in Europe'', says Bob Tomlins ''Riders often confuse good machine control skills with safe riding. The project will focus on the needs of training programmes to recognise the importance of attitude and behaviour, and hazard awareness and avoidance practices.''

www.fema.ridersrights.org

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