DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS FOR ALL VEHICLES IN EUROPE?
05 December 2006 - Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations

Not at the expense of motorcyclists!

The EC''s consultation on Daytime Running Lighs (DRL) closed on November 17th. FEMA''s campaign to stop compulsory Daytime Running Lights for all vehicles becoming a pan-European requirement received a major boost at FIA seminar on DRL last week.

The European Commission''s consultation on DRL ''Saving Lives with Daytime Running Lights'' closed on November 17th. The Federation of European Motorcyclists'' Associations (FEMA), very concerned by the EC''s intention to introduce compulsory DRL for all vehicles in Europe, sent its response, questioning the validity of the research on which the European Commission''s proposal was based and the positive conclusions in favour of the introduction of DRL as a pan-European measure.

At a seminar organised by the Fédération Internationale de l''Automobile (FIA) following the closing of the EC consultation, FEMA once again challenged the road safety benefits of DRL and sought reassurance that the consultation process within the European Union would not be negated by decisions to push to compulsory DRL.

FEMA was pleased however to see support for its concerns that DRL would result in a loss of conspicuity for motorcyclists, by the British Government. Senior official from the UK Department for Transport, Ian Yarnold, together with a representative of the Transport Research Laboratory, Ian Knight, raised serious doubts about the wisdom of making DRL an issue for European harmonisation and questioned a number of the conclusions reached in the research supporting DRL. Most importantly they maintained that any benefits of DRL would be far outweighed by the costs.

Motorcyclists'' representative were further encouraged when the Head of the European Commission''s road safety unit, Dr. Totsmann, said that the widespread concerns raised by motorcyclists and other vulnerable road user groups within the consultation process required the Commission to give further consideration to the matter and to engage in discussions with all stakeholders. He further stated that there would be no question of the Commission introducing a measure that would benefit one category of road user to the disadvantage of any other group of road users.

FEMA new General Secretary, Aline Delhaye, says: ''We all agree on the overall objective of improving road safety; however FEMA can not accept the current safety-based tactics launched by the pro-DRL lobbies taking advantage of the 2010 casualty reduction objective. Every life whether a car driver, a motorcyclist, a cyclist or a pedestrian, is worth the same. Raising the risk of one category of road users at the cost of saving another is simply ethically unacceptable. I am encouraged by the Commission''s recent statement reassuring FEMA that no measure that would endanger any category of road users would be implemented.''

To that effect, the announcement of a roundtable with all stakeholders should be seen as a step forward as FEMA does appear at last to have the decision makers prepared to listen to motorcyclists'' concerns.

www.fema.ridersrights.org

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