Keep Up At The Back!

The Swedish rider organisation SMC (Sveriges MotorCyklister) has reported on the recent vote in the TRAN (Transport and Tourism) committee of MEPs regarding motorcycles and the deletion of motorcycles from the Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) package.

A Europa press release from the EU Council of transport ministers reports that they will meet in Luxembourg on Monday 10th June under the Irish Presidency.

“Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport and mobility, will represent the European Commission. Ministers will discuss important legislative proposals such as rail interoperability, roadworthiness (inspection and registration), occurrence reporting in civil aviation and marine equipment.”

The press release continues about the new rules proposed by the European Commission in July last year, “to toughen up vehicle testing regimes and widen their scope” that “Technical defects contribute heavily to accidents.” and that, “8% of all motorcycle accidents are linked to technical defects.”

In consideration of the fact that even the TRAN Committee are querying these statistics, it would appear that Commissioner Kallas and the European Commission are in denial and are trying to defend a lost cause.

At the end of the section on Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) the press release states, “The European Council has deleted the requirement for mandatory Road Worthiness Testing for L3e (that’s low-performance, medium and large size) motorcycles!”

The European Council also deleted these requirement in December 2012, “The general approach, though, does not retain the Commission’s proposal to extend periodic tests to motorcycles and light trailers.”

We have reported previously on this and SMC are also now reporting, that the TRAN Committee voted last week (30th June 2013) to delete the requirement for mandatory Road Worthiness Testing for  motorcycles.

So the European Commission is out of step with European Member States, the TRAN committee of MEPs and motorcyclists.

Perhaps somebody should tell them to keep up at the back, because they are definitely lagging behind with their continued spiel that 8% of all motorcycle accidents are linked to technical defects.

Keep up at the Back!

The SMC report confirms that the TRAN committee in the recent vote on RWT has agreed on the amendment, “That an investigation must be made within three years in order to compare the accident rates between countries with/without inspections and also whether the effects of mandatory inspection for motorcycles and mopeds are proportionate to introduce mandatory legislation for all EU/EEA countries.”

SMC continues that, “Although we have inspections in Sweden of motorcycles, we are the only Nordic country that has this. Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland have no motorcycle inspection. There is no link between inspection and accident statistics in other countries without inspections (the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Malta and Portugal).

ACEM the “Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles” which represent the Motorcycle Industry in Europe ACEM recently said that, “Technical defects are the primary cause of a motorcycle accident in 0,3% of all cases, while they have a contributing role in 5% of accidents involving motorcycles.”

The European Commissions – own Road Safety Knowledge base – regarding Powered Two Wheelers on contributory factors in accidents related to the vehicle states:

“Other design elements of PTWs are relevant for their safety such as frame, suspension, wheels, brakes, tyres. But with to day’s PTW’s their contribution to accidents is low. The MAIDS study found 5% accidents with vehicle failure as a contributing factor, mostly tyre or wheel problems.”

With the caveat that: “The opinions expressed in the studies are those of the consultant and do not necessarily represent the position of the Commission.”

Another committee of MEPS the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), submitted their opinion to the TRAN Committee and amendments which included a deletion of text proposed by the Commission:

(7) Solid investigation results show that 8% of the accidents involving motorcycles are caused or linked to technical defects. Motorcycle riders are the group of road users with the highest safety risk, with rising trend in the number of fatalities. Moped drivers are overrepresented in the number of fatalities, with more than 1,400 drivers killed on the roads in 2008. The scope of vehicles to be tested shall therefore be extended to the highest risk group of road users, the powered two-or three-wheel vehicles.

The justification for this deletion, which we applaud, is, “In accordance with the subsidiarity and proportionality principles, it should be left to the discretion of the Member States  whether to extend roadworthiness tests to two-and three-wheel motor vehicles. Furthermore, the EU accident statistics for two – and three-wheel vehicles do not correlate with earlier studies.”

In fact there were similar ammendments by other MEPs to delete this text.

In a previous TRAN committee meeting Ismail Ertug, German MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), said, “Technical tests on the smaller vehicles, I think this is important because we are talking about motorcycles for example which, have the most accidents so I think it is most important that we do look at that.”

He went on to mention that, “European Commission argued technical deficiencies cause 5.7% casualties German car lobby actually has a figure 0.5% of serious motor vehicle accidents related to technical deficiencies so that’s quite a big gap perhaps we can have some clarification on that point.”

In a briefing paper the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), who have stated that they represent 8 million motorcyclists, say, “Motorbikes on average have a much lower mileage per year than passenger cars (5,000 km compared to 15,000 km). They represent an important alternative means of transportation in a range of EU countries. While it is indeed important to improve the safety of this vulnerable category of road users, the FIA calls on the Commission to provide more up-to-date evidence to justify the proposed level of frequency and the associated increased costs for the consumer.”

In a 2010 position statement on RWT the Federation Of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) said, “Unfortunately the DEKRA Report  (DEKRA are the leading vehicle testing organization in Europe) fails to explain what exactly had been the most common defects out of these 8% being relevant to the accident but it seems that in most cases the tyres were to blame. Either the tread depth was too shallow,the tyres were defective or the tyre pressure was too low. FEMA doubts that extended PTI is able to lower such defects since tyre pressure and tyre condition have to be checked constantly.”

In our view, the best yardstick for determining whether there are problems with motorcycles, scooters, mopeds from a mechanical perspective is the failure rates of MoTs (aka RWT) – typically 7% per annum here in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland the government agency DVTA (Driver Vehicle Testing Agency) carries out the MoTs at designated testing centres. Interestingly, in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the failure rates are far higher – typically 21% and we can’t help thinking that this may be due to the fact that the MoT is carried out by private sector mechanics.)

The reasons for failure in Northern Ireland for motorcycles, scooters and mopeds are mainly electrical issues including lights and wiring (c.40%); c.17% for near side headlamps; brake systems at around 10%; also 10% for tyres/wheels and 5% for exhaust systems, based on data provided by the DVTA over the four year period, 2007 to 2010.

The Northern Ireland DVTA publishes failure rates for cars every month – and brakes are the most common reason for failures with an average of around 20% – 22% (i.e. double that for motorcycles).

With regards to the proposed investigation and their own RWT, SMC comment,  “SMC is convinced that the investigation will show the same results as today, i.e. the mandatory inspection of motorcycles and mopeds is not an important factor in road safety. The Transport Administration indepth studies of fatal accidents for motorcycles in Sweden saw that in only three percent of the accidents there was a technical failure contributory factor.

Even after the inspection interval for motorcycles was extended in Sweden, the number of motorcycle accidents has decreased. Motorcycles are the vehicles that have the far highest pass rate of all the inspections in Sweden, this shows that motorcycle owners cherish their vehicles and keep them in a roadworthy condition.

Our Nordic neighbors Denmark, Finland and Norway have no more motorcycle accidents than in Sweden, despite not having any inspection of motorcycles.”

In light of all these comments, we feel we are justified in saying that not only is the European Commision and Mr Kallas out of step they are moving around the dance floor in the wrong direction.

SMC Action

So back to SMC and what they doing in the lead up to a vote on the RWT package, which is schedule for a Plenary Session vote in the European Parliament in Strasbourg in early July?

SMC’s representatives have been in contact with all Swedish parties in the EU parliament, mailed all parties, seeking contact with each to discuss the issue.

The outline of their contact with their politicians is:

• SMC believes that each member country should decide on the requirements for inspection, range and scope based on their own conditions and limitations.

• SMC hopes that politicians are voting against mandatory inspection of motorcycles, mopeds and trailers towed by these vehicles at the vote in Strasbourg July 2 to 4.

• The responsible committee Transport and Tourism, TRAN, voted on May 30, 2013, not to include motorcycles and mopeds in the proposal as subject to mandatory inspection. The decision of the vote was with small marigin (21-19).

• The TRAN committee wants the Commission within three years, to present an investigation on motorcycles and mopeds which would be subject to mandatory inspection. The inquiry will specifically compare the accident rates between countries that have/have not inspection of motorcycles and mopeds and whether the effects of inspection for motorcycles and mopeds are proportionate to introduce mandatory legislation for all EU/EEA countries.

• SMC is convinced that the investigation will show the same results as today, i.e. the mandatory inspection of motorcycles and mopeds is not an important factor in road safety. The Transport Administration indepth studies of fatal accidents for motorcycles in Sweden saw that in only three percent of the accidents there was a technical failure contributory factor.

• Even after the inspection interval for motorcycles was extended in Sweden, the number of motorcycle accidents has decreased. Motorcycles are the vehicles that have the far  highest pass rate of all the inspections in Sweden, this shows that motorcycle owners cherish their vehicles and keep them in a roadworthy condition.

• Our Nordic neighbors Denmark, Finland and Norway have no more motorcycle accidents than in Sweden, despite not having any inspection of motorcycles.

• Statistics clearly show that there are measures decided at national level, which is more effective in preventing motorcycle accidents than compulsory roadworthiness test.

• Other EU countries that do not require inspection of motorcycles are Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Ireland, Malta and Portugal. Among among these countries, there are examples of high traffic and low accident rates, despite lack of inspection of motorcycles.

• Very few EU/EEA countries require the inspection of mopeds. Requiring the inspection of mopeds Class I and II of Sweden is not just associated with significant costs and administration to introduce a new type of inspection. Distances to the nearest inspection organization allows moped owners in rural areas can forced to travel 10-15 mil one way to carry out an inspection. These trips will increase traffic and is extremely costly to the individual. 40,000 Swedish mopeds are registered.

• At the Council of Ministers meeting in December 2012 the Commission requirements on mandatory inspection of motorcycles, mopeds and trailers drawn by such vehicles was deleted.

• Member countries saw no reason to mandatory requirements for motorcycles and moped inspection and trailers drawn by such vehicles. Ministers changed the proposal for a Regulation to a Directive.

• All parties in the Swedish Parliament  were strongly critical of the Commission’s proposal and sent in mid-October 2012 a written reasoned opinion to the President of the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. The opinion said that the EU Commission’s inspection package is not compatible with subsidiarity.  (The principle of subsidiarity regulates the exercise of powers in the European Union. It is intended to determine whether, in an area where there is joint competence, the Union can take action or should leave the matter to the Member States. The subsidiarity principle is based on the idea that decisions must be taken as closely as possible to the citizen.)

As we know, in the UK we already have Road Worthiness Testing (MoT), however if we want to keep our MoT as it is for motorcycles then we do not want the inclusion of motorcycles in the European Commission proposal.

If we want the proposed study to compare the accident rates between countries with/without inspections and also that the effects of mandatory inspection for motorcycles and mopeds are proportionate to a mandatory law for all EU/EEA countries, then riders should be involved in that study.

If you intend to write to your MEP, then you might want to pick out some of the issues that SMC have highlighted, which in turn would support those riders in countries that do not have RWT and prefer any decision to be their own and/or their government’s decision.

Original Source – Europa Press Release – Click Here

Original Source – SMC – Click Here

Information

Right To Ride – press releases on RWT – Click Here

DEKRA Motorcycle Road Safety Report – Click Here – 5.6mb

FIA Region I Briefing on PTI – pdf – 2.5mb

FEMA 2010 – RWT Position Satement – Click Here – pdf 166kb

Writing to your MEP then do not use “Write To Them” as they say, “Spamming lots of representatives with near-identical messages is definitely bad behaviour in our book. Please be aware that if you do this, most of the duplicate messages will be filtered out automatically and will never get to the representatives.”

So it is much better to contact your MEP as an individual and personally, either by email or a good old fashion letter.

European Parliament Information Office in the United Kingdom – Click Here

European Parliament website – Click Here