DANGEROUS ROADS FOR MOTORCYCLISTS
19 November 2006 - Acem

Acem looks for solutions

“Our big enemy is the excessive number of two-wheel deaths on the roads.” This is the slogan Federico Minoli, the president of Ducati used to open the press conference of the Acem (The European Association of Motorbike Constructor) of which he is vice-president.

The subject was “Guidelines for safer road design for two-wheeled vehicles” and is often the centre of discussion for whoever lives in major towns and cities and have to share the road with cars, cyclists and the public.

Minoli explained that the problem is mostly linked to road design. “As bike manufacturers we try and give the best possible quality thanks to R&D and contact with our customers. We’ve opened our factory so that people can understand that a wrongly tightened bolt can cause the death of a client.”

For Eugene Daams, the author of the document, “This is a historic moment for the motorbike because this document represents a theoretic guide on which people can work with. Motorbikers aren’t the only ones responsible for accidents and the statistics show that the infrastructure is a key reason.”

This was agreed by Claudio De Viti, responsible for the motorbike sector of Ancma –the Italian motorbike and bicycle association. He showed that in Italy 41% of the accidents were at least partially caused by roads defects and that they were the decisive cause in 6.5%.

These worrying statistics unified the calls of the speakers at the meeting: Team work, respect for the highway code and support from the major institutions to help improve road safety in Italy. An end to the abuse of guardrails and barriers that are not tested for two-wheel
users.

www.acembike.org

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