The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) reports that Icelandic riders through FEMA members, the Sniglar Bifhjólasamtök lýðveldisinns (BLS) rider organisation has successfully resisted the introduction of mandatory protective clothing.
BLS reports that the Icelandic government will most likely drop its plans to mandate protective clothing for motorcyclists. Riders in Iceland pointed out that almost all riders would already wear protective clothing, which would be partly also due to rather rough weather conditions.
In addition if protective clothing was made mandatory then Iceland would be the only country in Europe mandating such a measure.
In the latest draft of the Icelandic traffic bill there is no further mention of the compulsory use of protective clothing. The bill still has to pass parliament but the Icelandic FEMA member BLS is confident that it will be approved without further amendments.
FEMA says its position and that of its member organizations on protective clothing is clear: riders should be encouraged to wear protective clothing but the final decision about what to wear and when, needs to be left to the individual.
At Right To Ride we fully support this position, before starting up Right To Ride, Elaine Hardy was part of the Committee that reviewed FEMA’s Mission and Policy Statements.
Njáll Gunnlaugsson from BLS is reported as saying, “This positive outcome is because of the constant effort we put in to get this done, and a big help was the fact that FEMA helped us in this battle by giving a statement, as is mentioned in the sub-chapter in the traffic bill. I just wanted to say thank you. This really proves that FEMA makes a difference.”
Original Source: Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations
FEMA Mission and Policy – Click Here
FEMA Riders’ Charter 2008- pdf – Click Here
Are You Cool Or A Fool
BLS are running their own campaign that it is cool to use protective clothing and silly to use poor or no protective clothing.
The goal is to reach kids and younger riders on the use of appropriate protective clothing as it is more and more common to see young scooter riders and others totally unprotected, BLS encourages parents and guardians to instruct them to use good appropriate protective clothing no matter how short the trip!
It would appear that BLS are working with visits to daycare/nursery schools to introduce kids and motorcycles and their riders to promote the safety of motorcycle use.
Unless we have toatally mis-understood the “Google” translation.
In the spirit of BLS on their website asking for the spreading of the campaign posters you can view them below.
Original Sources: Sniglar Bifhjólasamtök lýðveldisinns (BLS) – Sniglar Bifhjólasamtök lýðveldisinns (BLS)
Campaign Posters from Sniglar Bifhjólasamtök lýðveldisinns (BLS)
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