INDUSTRY REACTS ANGRILY TO ‘EURO LUNACY’ ON MOTORCYCLE RIDING LICENCES.
26 January 2005 - Motor Cycle Industry Association Ltd

The Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCI) has today reacted angrily to a vote in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, which threatens to fundamentally change the way which novice motorcyclists can gain their licences in the UK and Europe.

The proposed changes could mean that people will lose the right to ride a motorcycle with an engine size larger than 125cc until they are 19. Older novice riders may not be able to directly gain a full licence to ride larger motorcycles under the ‘Direct Access’ until they are 25 years of age. In addition, new car drivers will lose the right to ride mopeds with a full car licence, which they can do in the UK after completing comprehensive compulsory basic training. Current car licence holders enjoy this right, allowing them the easy option of switching to a moped to avoid traffic congestion on commuting journeys.

Currently, novice riders can take a motorcycle test at 17 and be able to ride motorcycles and scooters of modest power (approximately that of a 350cc machine) for two years. After this experience period, they can ride any motorcycle of their choice. Novices can opt to take a Direct Access course to ride larger motorcycles when they reach 21 years old.

European Commission proposals to amend the licensing rules were originally proposed as a Draft Directive in 2003, but it has taken this long for the proposals to reach the European Parliament. During this period, they were scrutinised by the Council of Ministers, which amended them to make them vaguer and less logical than the original Commission plans. On January 19th, the European Parliament’s Transport Committee voted in favour of further amendments which would make the proposed directive almost unrecognisable from the original draft and far more draconian and restrictive than was originally intended.

The motorcycle industry in Europe, ACEM (Association of Constructors of European Motorcycles) has worked with the European institutions and individual MEPs to try and bring common sense to the debate by arguing that any changes to the licensing regime should be based on evidence demonstrating a road safety need.

However, the road safety effects of current European licensing regulations, which were brought in during the mid 1990s, had not been evaluated by the European Commission before proposals were made and developments in road safety research have also been ignored. Research indicates that it’s not the age of access to motorcycles which is the main safety issue, but the amount of experience that riders have.

MCI’s Craig Carey-Clinch said; “The situation is fast becoming Euro Lunacy. The Commission never bothered to evaluate the need to change the licensing regime, simply justifying their proposals with the rather nebulous reason that they were required ‘for safety reasons’. However, they didn’t use evidence to back their arguments, meaning that their so-called ‘safety’ logic is flawed.

“Things became worse after both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament’s Transport Committee ‘had a go’ at modifying the proposals. At one stage in recent discussions, both the Council and the Parliament Committee’s Rapporteur seemed to be grabbing ideas and proposals out of thin air on almost a daily basis, with absolutely no logic to guide their thinking. Now this mish-mash of proposals and counter proposals, which has zero relevance to the real motorcycle safety situation, is in danger of becoming a European law which will have fundamentally damaging effects on the motorcycle industry and create yet more inequitable barriers and restrictions on people who want to ride motorcycles, scooters and mopeds.

“If the European Institutions had deliberately planned to launch a fundamental attack on motorcycling and in the process secure the primacy of the car as the number one choice for European citizens as a mode of transport on congested roads it couldn’t have done a better job. Under these proposed regulations taking up motorcycling will become even more bureaucratic, expensive and complicated for potential new riders, many of whom may simply not bother.”

Carey-Clinch added; “It seems utterly daft that we’re moving to a situation where the requirements for novice motorcyclists could become tougher than those for novice aircraft pilots – who can gain a pilot’s licence from the age of 16.”

Having been subjected to a vote of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee, the proposed Directive will now come before a vote of the full European Parliament, sometime in late February. MCI is calling on UK MEPs to refuse to accept the view of their Transport Committee and instead support the amendments made by European industry and user groups, which are aimed at bringing sanity back into the European licensing debate.

Once the European Parliament has voted in February, effectively passing a non-binding opinion on the Directive, it will pass back to the Council of Ministers (representatives of EU member governments) who will decide whether or not to accept the Parliament’s view.

www.mcia.co.uk

More News
  For January 2005
  From Motor Cycle Industry Association Ltd
  For Government
  Biker247.com Home Page