A measure to limit noise pollution prohibits the use of motorcycles in parts of the High Pyrenees Natural Park (El Parque Natural de los Altos Pirineos). Electric vehicles and cars are not covered by the ban. A ‘Special Noise Quality Zone’ (ZEPQA) was created, with a ban for motorcycles, quads and buggies throughout the year. This makes a large area of 80,000 hectares inaccessible to motorcyclists. The Pyrenees are located in the border area between France, Spain and Andorra. The ban excludes motorcycles from local roads and trails but does not place similar restrictions on cars. 'Unfair discrimination', says Moto de Campo Sostenible. The regulations described in the ‘Action Plan for the declaration of a zone of special protection of acoustic quality in

Cable barriers are banned in some countries, while others still install them, despite the inherent risks for motorcyclists. The main problem with cable barriers - or wire rope fences - are the uprights; in the event of a motorcyclist's fall, these uprights will catch the motorcyclist, with all its horrible consequences. This is no different from other crash barrier variants. One difference is that a motorcyclist who is still on his bike and hits the cable barrier will be led to the uprights, where a standard guardrail has no protruding parts. The argument that cable barriers are a good solution for roads where there is not enough space in the side or central reservation for a 'normal' crash barrier (preferably with motorcyclist

Politicians want us to walk, cycle, or use public transport. Motorcyclists however have different ideas when it comes to commuting, traveling to work. Better ideas, FEMA’s Wim Taal believes. FEMA’s survey on the commuting habits of motorcyclists shows that they use several different vehicles and different ways of travel. This way they adapt to their needs and possibilities on any given day. By investing in different types of vehicles - not just motorcycles - they show a great sense of responsibility and of practical insight. Something that, according to FEMA, should be stimulated and rewarded. For commuters, the year-round motorcycle costs are nearly three times less than operating a car, with gas averaging €545 for riders and €1,435 for drivers. Motorbikes are also

Six member states of the European Union will not sign the regulation to ban the sale of new cars and vans with an internal combustion engine from 2035. FEMA's Dolf Willigers says this affects motorcycles too. Motorcycles are still not mentioned in the plans to decarbonize road transport in the European Union. Still, new developments from March 2023 may also have an effect on motorcycles. On 27 October 2022, the European Commission, European Parliament, and the member states, united in the Council of the European Union, reached an agreement in the so-called trilogue about the emission limits for cars and vans. After a few steps to lower the emission of the fleet, from 2035 the sale of new cars that emit

The European Commission has published its Road Safety Package. Part of it is a proposal for a new Driving License Directive. The new elements are mainly the introduction of a digital driving licence and harmonization of renewing licences. In general, FEMA asks for a change of direction from the present focus on technical skills at low speeds to higher skills that leads to better risk awareness and preparation to handle unexpected situations. This can be done without raising the threshold to obtain a full A-licence by making different choices and to make it easier to go through the stages from A1 to A. We also draw attention to the present structure of the Directive regarding training- and test motorcycles which makes that

The high numbers of motorcycle crashes that end up with fatalities and serious injuries mean that there is still much work to do on road safety. That is why international motorcyclists' organisations FIM and FEMA wrote an open letter, in which they call on the European Commission, the European Parliament, national governments and parliaments and road authorities to take action. The recently published road safety figures by the European Commission did not look good for motorcyclists. Although the number of fatal crashes has declined over the years with 12% (against a rising number of motorcyclists), in 2020 3042 motorcyclists and 495 moped riders still died as result of a crash in the European Union and EFTA countries (European Free Trade Association). This means

Even though after the summer break most restrictions of the Covid19-measures were lifted, it soon became clear that there would be no return to the pre-pandemic normality. This did not stop us continuing our work. The number of visits to Brussels may be less than we were used to before 2020, we are still able to advocate the rights and interests of the European motorcyclists in Brussels and to a lesser extend in Geneva. In this review we will first give a summary and then you will find the more detailed actions, ordered in the way of our strategic plan 2016-2026 by the four main topics. 2022 in numbers Newsletter subscribers > 10,360 Facebook posts > 129 Facebook followers > 64,597 Instagram posts > 81 Instagram followers

Historic motorcycles should be exempt from mandatory periodical technical inspections, from low and/or zero emission zones and from road taxes, according to a large majority of the motorcyclists who responded to FEMA's survey on the definition and use of historic vehicles. Why this survey? Different EU member states, other European countries, and the EU use different definitions to describe historic vehicles. For political purposes, especially when it comes to the position of motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers in both national and international legislation about road tax, low emission zones, periodical technical inspections et cetera, FEMA wanted to survey motorcyclists in Europe on the subject. 1.614 people from 31 countries responded to the survey. 95.61% of the respondents is male, 4.39% is female.

New crash avoidance testing of automated cars will include motorcycles. Euro NCAP is also looking at ways to assess the safety of motorcycles. In September 2022, we published an article about the very high Euro NCAP star rating for the Tesla model Y, while accidents with Tesla’s in the USA have showed that the Autopilot system is far from failproof, especially in bad-weather conditions. This led to several meetings with Euro NCAP, more about that later. In the meantime, on 9 November 2022, Euro NCAP published its new Vision 2030: a Safer Future for Mobility. In this paper Euro NCAP describes on a high level how it sees future vehicle safety standards and testing. Euro NCAP plans, for example, to add testing

Maximum confusion in Brussels whether the sale of cars and small vans with an internal combustion engine will be actually banned from 2035. And what about motorcycles? On Thursday 27 October 2022, the European Commission, European Parliament, and the member states, united in the Council of the European Union, reached an agreement in the so-called trilogue about the emission limits for cars and vans. After a few steps to lower the emission of the fleet, from 2035 the sale of new cars and motorcycles that have no zero CO2-emission will be banned in the European Union. Many parties, especially NGOs like Transport & Environment, who have lobbied for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for years and the Greens in the European Parliament celebrated

Euro NCAP stars do not protect motorcyclists. FEMA considers this an unacceptable situation and sent a letter to Euro NCAP to alert them to this unsafe situation, caused by their own testing methods. In September 2022, Euro NCAP, a voluntary vehicle safety rating system, rated the Tesla model Y with 5 stars . This is not unusual for a modern car. These five stars are partially based on a very high rating for ‘Safety Assisi’, 98%, which is almost as high as you can get. We consider this very high rating remarkable at least. From the beginning that Tesla cars hit the roads with their ‘Autopilot’ system, there are reports of remarkable and unexplainable accidents with Tesla cars that can be linked

Reliable detection of motorcycles by driver assistance systems in cars is essential to avoid collisions and decrease the number of motorcyclist accidents. A white paper published by the Connected Motorcycle Consortium discusses the current state of automobile Advanced Driver Assistance Systems from a two-wheeler detection point of view. It also presents an evaluation of potential methods to improve powered two-wheeler conspicuity and analyses previous relevant studies. Just like FEMA, the Connected Motorcycle Consortium thinks powered two-wheelers should be included in ADAS test procedure development and retroactively introduced into existing ones. Powered two-wheelers are often overseen, or their speed and distance are misjudged by other road users. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) support passenger car drivers to avoid hazardous situations in many traffic scenarios