Besides calling for fair treatment and less prejudice, FEMA and its members contribute to a great extent to improve road safety without losing the essence of individual freedom.
An important victory for FEMA: the discussion to limit the maximum power of motorcycles to 74kW finally came to an end. The European Commission reached the only logical conclusion and acknowledged that “the anticipated correlation between safety and absolute power limitation could not be confirmed”.
The Director of Road Safety at the Swedish Transport Administration and founder of the Vision Zero concept, Professor Claes Tingvall, spoke most highly of SMC, the Swedish member organization of FEMA, and its efforts and achievements. This is remarkable since, 14 years ago, he had publicly announced motorcycling and road safety as the greatest possible mismatch.
Now, at the annual conference of the Swedish Transport Administration in Stockholm on 28th April, Mr. Tingvall stated: “It’s rather marvelous and unusual to note that the motorcycle culture serves as an ideal for all the other traffic safety work. It’s something I hadn’t expected myself not to hear it both from the user side, from SMC, and from the industry, MRF and to hear how forward thinking your work is and what results you achieve”.
In 1997, the same Tingvall had claimed that “there is no room for motorcycles in Vision Zero.” Shocking to the utmost a motorcycle community that has already been involved in improving motorcycle safety at times this was still unusual for rider’s rights organizations.
FEMA members are proud of such a declaration as it acknowledges how committed the motorcycle community has become towards road safety.
And of course, we’re even happier to see that the staunchest supporter of curtailing riders’ rights can come around and work hand in hand with the riders; proving, once again, that motorcyclists are a very open family.
Have a safe and free ride,
Aline Delhaye
General Secretary of FEMA
Type approval of motorcycles goes into next round in EU Parliament
On Tuesday the 24th May MEP Wim van de Camp presented his Draft Report on the future approval of motorcycles in the European Union to the responsible parliamentary committee, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). Prominent issues discussed by the Committee members were the mandatory introduction of ABS, emissions and possible leeway for electric bikes. FEMA is positive about the Draft Report and has already entered into discussions for the improvement of details.
The Draft Report (to be accessed here) was issued by MEP Wim van de Camp on May 6. The Dutch MEP is a motorcycle enthusiast and was one of the patrons of this year’s MEP Ride. He has been named Rapporteur of IMCO on the proposal for a Regulation on the approval and market surveillance of two- or three wheel vehicles and quadricycles. The Draft Report suggests amendments to the Type Approval Regulation as proposed by the European Commission.
In the first instance the Draft Report aims at changing the application date of the Type Approval Regulation by one year, from January 2013 to January 2014. This initiative is hardly surprising since the motorcycle industry has complained about the overly ambitious schedule of the foreseen legislative process from the very beginning. FEMA acknowledges the need of the industry for sufficient lead time but is worried about one important detail: in combination with the newly suggested simplification of the implementation steps the amendment of the application date means that rules for motorcycle emissions remain unchanged until 2017.
Delay of tighter emission rules
With regard to the environmental debate FEMA is very concerned that motorcycles will loose too much credibility if emission levels remain unchanged until 2017. During the IMCO meeting at the EU Parliament in Brussels this was criticised by Ms. Kerstin Westphal, shadow rapporteur for the Group of Social Democrats and Socialists (S&D), as well as from Heide Rühle, shadow rapporteur of the Group of the Greens (Greens/EFA). Ms. Rühle insisted in continuing the discussion about the timing for the introduction of emission steps while Ms. Westphal argued that many motorcycles would comply with the EURO 3 norm already, which should justify the introduction of EURO 4 much earlier than 2017.
Mr. van de Camp agreed that clear signals for cleaner motorcycles would be appropriate but referred also to the deep economic crises motorcycle manufacturers were still facing. He promised to get back into discussions. What had not been discussed during the IMCO meeting was that in his Draft Report Mr. van de Camp reduced the requirement for emission durability from 50.000km to a mileage of only 40.000km for motorcycles above 125cc. Durability was a central argument for FEMA to support stricter emission standards and therefore FEMA has already started to raise concerns among MEPs.
Mandatory ABS
Roberts Zile, Rapporteur of the Opinion giving Committee on Transport and Tourism, had already suggested that nothing but the maximum speed of a vehicle would justify the mandatory introduction of ABS. At the IMCO meeting MEP Andreas Schwab, like Mr. van de Camp member of the Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP), said that if ABS was a safety tool it had to be applied especially to vehicles used by young people. At the same time he acknowledged that young people were attracted to cheap vehicles, therefore he raised the question to what extent the ABS discussion was driven by safety issues on the one hand and by cost arguments on the other hand.
Ms. Westphal said that she was aware of the need for ABS for bikes accessible to young people and added that Combined Braking Systems were no alternative to Anti-Lock Braking systems. Ms. Rühle disagreed that ABS would not be required for mopeds. Mr. van de Camp concluded the discussion by arguing that ABS was not useful for 16-year olds since they had no training in handling ABS while admitting that the cost for ABS could be expected to further decrease.
Powertrain modifications and a wider scope for eBikes
Unlike for ABS MEPs tend to agree that eBikes need sufficient room for development. Ms Rühle reminded Committee Members that there was hardly any market for electric two and three wheelers when the European Commission started to draft the legislative text almost three years ago. This situation has rapidly changed until now and developments could have accelerated even further when the Type Approval Regulation will finally be applied in 2014. Ms Rühle therefore pledged that the desirable evolvement of emission free mopeds, scooters and motorcycles must not be confined by too strict regulation. In his reply Mr. van de Camp seemed to agree but he reminded that a situation where the users of bicycles with auxiliary electric engines, so-called pedelecs, run down a hill exceeding 45km/h without wearing a helmet should be avoided.
Ms. Westphal criticized that the Draft Report does not foresee on-board diagnostic systems (OBD) for mopeds anymore. The German MEP argued that the absence of OBD facilitated engine tampering. Even though the underlying cause might not be appropriate Ms. Westphal’s concerns in relation to moped tampering should be taken into account. At the same time FEMA calls Parliament to make a clear separation between powertrain modifications of mopeds and of motorcycles above 125cc.
Following the advice of FEMA the Draft Report makes it clear that, after modifications of the powertrain, vehicles would only need to be compliant to the same requirements as were applicable when the original vehicle had entered into service. The Draft Report also highlights the well established culture of modifications but it still doesn’t highlight the difference between useful modifications for motorcycles and illegal engine tampering of mopeds.
Repair and Maintenance Information (RMI)
FEMA very much welcomes the strong statement Mr. van de Camp makes in the Draft Report “in order to ensure that the individual vehicle user and repairers will have sufficient access to RMI at reasonable costs.” The fact that this point has not been brought up during the IMCO meeting can be interpreted as an agreement among the shadow rapporteurs.
Regardless, FEMA will continue to approach decision-makers and explain about possible loopholes. When RMI had been discussed in the car sector, car manufacturers had argued that all information related to safety and security issues, like anti-theft devices, should not be given to independent repairers. Although this argumentation implies that independent dealers and repairers are more likely to be criminals, compared to official dealers and repairers, the car industry were successful.
Additionally car manufacturers declared a considerable amount of information to be directly linked to safety and security which enabled them to deny independent repairers to access RMI for many of the most common repair works. A situation to be avoided for the motorcycling industry.
Background for the Type Approval Regulation
The so-called Regulation on the approval and market surveillance of two- or three wheel vehicles and quadricycles is important for motorcyclists since it defines how manufacturers have to build motorcycles in order to allow its use on public roads in Europe. The text for this regulation has been proposed by the European Commission last year already (FEMA reported). Now it’s the turn of the European Parliament to decide upon the proposal. Then the Council of the European Union has the final say.
The work of the more than 700 Members of European Parliament (MEPs) is divided among Committees. IMCO is the Committee in charge of producing a report advising amendments to all MEPs regarding the initial proposal of the European Commission. The Dutch MEP van de Camp has been named as Rapporteur and is therefore in charge of compiling the IMCO report. After the presentation of a Working Document (FEMA reported) Mr. van de Camp has now presented a Draft Report which was discussed in Parliament on 24th May. Until 20th of June MEPs have the possibility to hand in their amendments. Then Mr. van de Camp will set up the actual IMCO Report which IMCO will vote on at the beginning of October. The plenary vote on the IMCO Report is scheduled for late October.
Motorcyclists make the difference in road safety
Besides calling for more freedom and fair treatment, Swedish FEMA member SMC adds another impressive example of a motorcyclists association contributing to a great extend to improve national road safety. Lately the Director of Road Safety at the Swedish Transport Administration spoke most highly of SMC’s achievements and efforts, although 14 years ago he had publicly announced motorcycling and road safety as the greatest possible mismatch.
At the annual conference of the Swedish Transport Administration in Stockholm on April 28, Claes Tingvall took the floor. Claes Tingvall is Director of Road Safety at the Swedish Transport Administration, and professor at the Chalmers Institute of Technology as well as investigator for the Vision Zero Academy.
Mr. Tingvall had gained prominence among motorcyclists after stating in a national TV programme in 1997 that “there is no room for motorcycles in Vision Zero”. Now in Stockholm, after representatives of SMC and the Swedish partners for motorcycle manufacturers McRF had presented their work Mr. Tingvall took the floor and commented the following on SMC’s engagement for Road Safety:
“It’s rather marvelous and unusual to note that the motorcycle culture serves as an ideal for all the other traffic safety work. It’s something I hadn’t expected myself not to hear it both from the user side, from SMC, and from the industry, McRF and to hear how forward thinking your work is and what results you achieve.”
And Mr. Tingvall continues:”It’s very possibly among the best in the world. I know it hasn’t always been easy to agree about absolutely everything but it’s wonderful to hear and to see your pride in it. I don’t think you’ll become overly proud, because you still have much to do. But it’s a fantastic achievement, and we sometimes find it hard to keep up – this saves you fro saying it.”
Maria Nordqvist, International Secretary of SMC, states: “Of course SMC is proud of the statement made by Professor Tingvall. It was rather unexpected, not only to SMC and McRF, the Swedish MC-producers, but to also the rest of the audience.”
Competing e-Racing series of FIM and TTXGP surprise with collaboration
In The organisers of electric motorcycle racing FIM and TTXGP announced that they will hold three concerted racing events in 2011. Previously both organizations had competed for racing teams, media attention and audience. The existence of two competing racing series was threatening the development of electric motorcycle racing, which can be considered to be still in its infancy. After a call for unity dating back to August 2011 FEMA welcomes the wise decision of the persons in charge.
TTXGP was the front runner in electric motorcycle racing: organiser of the first eBike race on the Isle of Man in 2009 and inventor of the ground-breaking eGrand Prix. FIM on the other side, organiser of all important motorcycle races worldwide, including MotoGP, had launched the FIM e-Power series in 2010. Both, TTXPG and FIM had the idea to promote zero emission racing on two wheels, but at this point in time there is still not enough room for two competing racing series, so the two run the danger to eradicate each other as well as the new sport.
In a joint press release both organisations have stated last week: “In a spirit of collaboration and with the common goal of promoting electric clean emission racing, the FIM and the TTXGP have agreed to combine both series across three rounds of their respective championships; 2011 FIM e-Power International Championship and the TTXGP World Series 2011.”
Further collaboration is planned for the end of the season: “Holding a selection of joint rounds allows the teams the best possible stage to promote the sport, the technology and the future to the next generation of motorsport. In addition, plans are in development to celebrate the conclusion of the 2011 season with a single, unifying final event in October.”
The three common racing events already scheduled will be hold:
23-24 July Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (USA) – FIM MotoGP WC
20-21 August Donington Park (GBR) – Qtel FIM Endurance WC & FIM WC Sidecars
24-25 September Le Mans (FRA) 24 Hours of Le Mans – Qtel FIM Endurance WC
European Commission initiates anti-tampering study
Following the plans of the European Commission to implement new measures to prevent modifications of the powertrain of motorcycles a so called anti-tampering study has already been initiated. At the same time European Parliament has not decided yet whether to empower the Commission to take action on the issue independently. FEMA has expressed it concerns about the Commissions’ approach towards a European-wide modification prevention act for motorcycles above 125c
In the proposal for a regulation on the type approval of motorcycles in the EU the European Commission suggests, among other things, the introduction of measures to prevent modifications of the ‘powertrain’. The proposal is linked to a delegated act which calls European Parliament to endow the Commission with a mandate to decide independently upon possible measures. Since a European Regulation on tampering of light motorcycles and scooters up to 125cc is already in place for more than 10 years (Directive 97/24/EC), the newly proposed modification prevention would mainly target all motorcycles above 125cc.
The European Parliament is still revising the proposed text on the type approval of motorcycles and the final voting is foreseen by September. In the meantime the British research institute TRL has already initiated a so called anti-tampering study on behalf of the Commission. As the name points out, the study investigates the existing forms of ‘harmful powertrain tampering’ as well as measures to prevent them.
The public is called to investigate anti-tampering measures
TRL is also running a public competition [http://l-cat.trl.co.uk/] calling schools and universities to ‘identify effective solutions to these tampering events to protect the environment and the safety of road users, including the riders and passengers’. The best solution for motorcycle tampering will be rewarded with €500.
FEMA would have preferred an open approach towards motorcycle modifications. To date no statistics indicate that European Member States are struggling with environmental or safety problems related to technical modifications of motorcycles. Therefore FEMA calls to assess the dimension of a possible problem before starting to work on possible solutions.
Furthermore FEMA is concerned about the scope of action that might be delegated to the Commission. The definition of the ‘powertrain’, whose tampering shall be prevented, is very likely to comprise all the technical parts and units which are commonly being modified. And even though the intention is to prevent ‘harmful’ tampering only, the definition of what is to be considered ‘harmful’ might be left entirely to the Commission.
