FIM Europe for Road Safety

Road Safety on top of the agenda

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The FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) Europe’s – John Chatterton-Ross, Director of Public Affairs, was recently interviewed by RACC – the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya on the themes of Road Safety.

FIM Europe comments that since its foundation, “the themes of road incidentality, of industry responses and initiatives, to improve Road Safety systems and the safety of 2-wheeler behaviour and their safety have been of importance for FIM Europe.”

In 2015 the ninth edition of Road Safety Conference will be held in Malta during the FIM Europe Congress. Each year the conference is organized with the aim to focus on the important themes of road safety.

The main focus at this year’s conference will deal with the development of electronics to increase usability and safety both on track and on road which is picked up in the interview of John Chatterton-Ross.

In the RACC interview John Chatterton-Ross chats in the video – which you can view here – about the issues that, “Covers the major issues facing road safety for riders” John expands on these issues, the most salient points being “The need for fair enforcement of the traffic rules on all road users.

jcrThe importance of the the road infrastructure, as this is often not safe for riders, being designed in the forties, fifties ad sixties for motorcars and either where they designed for pedestrians either. A lot can be done with relatively low cost measures so you can let the motorcycles into bus lanes.

How emerging technologies can help improve safety.

FIM Europe stresses the urgent need for new technology being developed by car manufactures to be made compatible with the needs of other road users, especially motorcycle riders – with universal protocols.

It needs manufacturers who are in both the car and motorcycle industries (for example Honda and BMW) to take the lead on this with political intervention.

We would have a big win on collision avoidance technologies because so much of the problem relates to junction accidents, its always the same story the driver says well I didn’t see”.

John also discusses – Personal Protect Equipment and the variation of requirements for clothing suitable for different climates – That riding a motorcycle is not the same as driving a car and mentions the basic road safety manual which is available in most of the European Union Languages – the Initial Rider Training Programme – a free download from the internet – The better motorcycle emission standards evolving and reduction in pollution levels – the advantage of a shift from four wheels to two in Belgium.

Then Our Thoughts

On the issue of technology our appraisal of what John is saying, what we agree with and our own thoughts which are that technology developed as car based must have protocols that include and are compatible in their interaction or separate operation, independent with all other road users.

Perhaps there is a need for political intervention to steer this technology – ITS – Intelligent Transport Systems and specifics of ISA – Intelligent Speed Adaption, including the latest game in town i.e driverless cars as well as Lane change warning systems – proximity warning of other vehicles etc etc.

In our opinion, if technology is trying to mimic, replace or improve human awareness and our own senses for warning of danger – it must work all the time and  not just some of the time.

Then again if we humans can be taught to read and write and expand our knowledge while we can hop on one leg – while sober – whilst patting our head and rubbing our stomachs, then we need to ask the question –  is there really a need for all this technology?

Surely training/teaching vehicle users to drive and observe without the crutch of technology would be more worthwhile and purposeful and possibly cheaper.

As humans we lifted ourselves out of the swamp and from using flints and learning to use fire towards the ability to develop machinery to assist us and technology such as that mentioned above.

Perhaps we just need to be aware that these technological crutches do not end up taking over and swamping us.

Video on the RACC – Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya website – Click Here

Original Source – FIM Europe – Click Here

www.fim-europe.com

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