BMF Press Release

Issued 3rd October 2005

REBELLION SPROUTS IN BRUSSELS AS BMF OPPOSES EU LICENCE DIRECTIVE

In a surprise move, several Euro MPs are set to support motorcyclists in their attempts to force a re-think on draconian new licensing laws for learner riders.

The MEPs’ support followed a demonstration protest ride to Brussels on Saturday. Riders from other European countries joined around three hundred UK motorcyclists taking part in a protest aimed at stopping the introduction of ‘The Third European Community Driving Licence Directive’ - new licencing laws that, say the BMF, would decimate the future of motorcycling.

Having first warned of the Directive’s existence back in February and having already written to all Euro MEPs and Dr Stephen Ladyman, UK Minister of State for Transport, the140,000 strong British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF), joined forces with the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) and Motor Cycle News (MCN) to get the message home by holding the protest before the Directive receives its Second Reading by the European Parliament’s Council of Ministers on Thursday 6th October.

Commenting, Trevor Magner, the BMF’s Senior Government Relations Executive, said: “This is fantastic news. Motorcycling is often under threat but this latest directive is an ill-founded and discriminatory piece of legislation. Luckily, the MEPs who have contacted us are prepared to stand up to this sort of thing and now we might just get it halted.”

Essentially, as well as introducing yet more bureaucracy, the Third EU Driving Licence Directive will mean that the minimum age for riding motorcycles over 125cc rises from 17 to 19 and the age level for direct access to a larger machine rises from 21 to 24 - all this without any evidence of a safety benefit, say the BMF. Equally, further hurdles in the shape of new categories of motorcycle licences involving two-yearly steps between bikes of different engine sizes and extra riding tests between steps would be introduced, once again, with no identified safety benefits.

The new proposals, due to be introduced in five years time, have completely ignored research say the BMF that showed that the major cause of motorcycle accidents were low-speed collisions in an urban environment - more often than not the fault of the other driver - not the rider. This was just one of the conclusions of the recent two and a half million euro (€2.5 million) ‘Motorcycle Accidents In Depth Study’ (MAIDS), funded by European taxpayers, the motorcycle industry and other bodies, including the BMF.

MAIDS research showed that the three key factors in rider safety are the behaviour of other road users, rider experience and the road environment, but the Directive has ignored these.

Speaking at the Brussels’ demonstration, Dr Leon Mannings, the BMF Chairman, said:
“This directive has no safety benefit. It should join the ‘Bonfire of Directives’ we have all heard so much about. All it will do is produce an overly complex motorcycle licensing process that will be neither understandable nor enforceable and will make motorcycling less accessible to European users. These motorcycling proposals seem more designed to deter people from taking up motorcycling than improving road safety. It’s not what legislation should be about”

The BMF is now going ahead with arranging briefing meetings with supporting MEPs.

ENDS

Issued by Jeff Stone