Very successful European Motorcyclists’ Forum will add to motorcycle road safety

On the 3th of February 2015 the European Motorcyclists’ Forum 2015, organised by the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA), ended in the European Parliament with a panel discussion of the outcomes of the RIDERSCAN project. Co-funded by the European Commission, the RIDERSCAN project gathers existing information on motorcycle safety in Europe, identifies needs for action and creates a cross-border knowledge-based network. After a series of presentations and discussions on the 2nd of February the second day was used to obtain views on the outcomes of the RIDERSCAN project, and also on the mid-tern evaluation of the European Commission Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020, from Szabolcs Schmidt (Head of the Road Safety Unit, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) of the European Commission), members of the European parliament Inés Ayalá-Sender and Wim van de Camp, FIM CAP Director Jesper Christenson and FEMA General Secretary Dolf Willigers. Finally Pierre van Elslande, Chairman of the ITF Working Group presented some of the outcomes of the OECD/ITF Motorcycle safety report. During the morning it became clear that the huge amount of information the RIDERSCAN project has generated will be very useful for the European Commission, and Mr. Schmidt expressed his gratitude for this, saying that the outcomes of the project were very useful and would certainly be taken into account in the mid-tern evaluation of the European Commission Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020. Mr. Van de Camp and Ms. Ayalá-Sender saw room for improvement of the Road Safety Policy and emphasized the need to use the information of RIDERSCAN in this. They also foresaw a growing role for powered two wheelers (PTWs) in future mobility. Mr. Van de Camp also invited the motorcycle community to give him input for the mid-tern evaluation of the European Commission Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020 in the European Parliament. Mr. Christensen emphasized the need for better training and licensing; he drew attention to the fact that the present Driving License Directive has discriminatory effects on women and smaller men and asked that this issue be addressed. He also asked for better infrastructure and standards for barriers that will take riders into account. Mr. Willigers stated, that the use of powered two wheelers was part of the solution for present and future congestion problems and therefore using a PTW should made safer. He expressed the hope that the outcomes of the RIDERSCAN project and the willingness of the European Commission to use them would contribute to this. Mr. Van Elslande referred in his presentation to a growing role of PTWs in global mobility, a disproportional number of casualties of riders and the need to take action on this. The OECD/ITF report will contain recommendations to enhance motorcycle road safety. For pictures, follow this link Note for editors The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA) is the European federation of national road rider organisations. FEMA represents, defends and promotes motorcycling and the interests of millions of powered two-wheeler users across Europe. FEMA’s membership of 22 national organisations from 16 countries represent over 300,000 dedicated motorcyclists from all social groups. FEMA’s primary objective is to represent European motorcyclists both within the European Union and agencies of the United Nations. More information on www.fema-online.eu The RIDERSCAN project, A European Scanning Tour for Motorcycle Safety is an EU co-financed project, aiming at taking a magnifying glass and look at country’s expertise on motorcycle safety, to draw recommendations for EU and national concrete action (more information on www.riderscan.eu). The European Motorcyclists Forum is a European platform for discussion set up by the European Commission and FEMA to enhance discussions on issues of common interest related to PTWs. The platform has been focusing on safety matters for the duration of the RIDERSCAN project. Press contact For further information or to receive future FEMAs news and press releases please contact the secretariat on telephone: +32 (0)2 736 90 47 or by email: info fema-online.eu. Information about the European Motorcyclists’ Forum and the RIDERSCAN project can be obtained from Aline Delhaye, project leader of the RIDERSCAN project. She can be reached directly by email a.delhaye fema-online.eu or by mobile phone +32 (0) 495501555. Inform ation about FEMA can be obtained from Dolf Willigers. He can be reached directly by email d.willigers fema-online.eu or by mobile phone +31 (0) 613269211.