The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations has released a press release about the European Motorcyclists Forum, taking place on 5th and 6th March 2014.
Is the Forum on ITS as FEMA claims, a logical step towards better integration of motorcycling in European transport policies?
Do riders really want to accept Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to enhance their motorcycles or is the debate far more complex in relation to attitude, riding ability, other road users, performance and safety?
At Right To Ride, we certainly believe that performance improving technology can be beneficial, we do however query “safety” enhancing technology.
Our reason is simple.
The “Safety” lobby in Brussels and elsewhere is big business and is frequently based on dubious data from which vote seeking politicians, business and individuals base their own self serving publicity.
In the case of RIDERSCAN, we question its purpose, intent and outcome.
What was supposed to be a European wide project to provide information throughout the Member states has instead become yet another chat shop for the privileged “same ole” faces in Brussels.
The same debates, same outcome, same logic, which is that we – Europe’s riders, need to be saved from ourselves.
However, because we are of the opinion that anything motorcycle related deserves attention and publicity, we are happy to share FEMA’s press release with our supporters and look forward to hearing about the outcome of the forum and the potential positive aspects that it can offer for the motorcycling community.
Right To Ride EU – www.righttoride.eu
Can motorcycles benefit from new technologies?
26th February 2014
This year’s European Motorcyclists Forum will discuss the impact of new technologies on motorcycling and related issues from a motorcycle specific angle. To prepare the debate, discussions on social media are being launched by RIDERSCAN media partners at national level.
For the second time, the European Motorcyclists’ Forum is hosting the RIDERSCAN project discussions.
RIDERSCAN is an EU co-funded project aiming at gathering all relevant knowledge and information about motorcycle safety in Europe and provide guidance to road authorities.
The event, taking place on March 5th and 6th, is hosted in the European Parliament premises 2 months before EU elections, thanks to the support of MEP Bernd Lange (S&D), also Chair of the FIA’s Forum for Automobile and Society.
Mr Lange said: “Powered two-wheelers will play a crucial role for our future mobility, especially in urban areas. They are however often overlooked in the discussion. It is therefore all the more important to put them into focus, especially in the context of the integration of intelligent transport systems (ITS).”
This year’s Forum will discuss the European Commission’s work on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and deployment efforts.
This is in the context of EU initiatives including the Cars2020 Action Plan, the ITS Directive and Action Plan and Horizon2020, but from a motorcycle specific angle.
Four working sessions will structure the debate around ITS and motorcycle specific related issues including: user needs and acceptance, research and development (R&D) roadmap, human factors and impacts of new technologies on the riding tasks, data collection and privacy (with the support of the FIA), aiming at identifying priorities for the motorcycling sector.
To prepare the discussions, the RIDERSCAN project launched a new survey.
Currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Danish (more languages to come), the ITS User Survey will help to draw a European map of rider awareness and acceptance of new technologies applied to transport systems.
Preliminary results on the willingness of riders to test, use, and buy systems, will be discussed at the Forum.
In parallel, FEMA is launching a debate over new technologies and motorcycling on three social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter). Comments from the public will be conveyed all throughout the Forum discussions.
As the Forum on ITS is a logical step towards a better integration of motorcycling in European transport policies, the Forum will be recorded and videos will be made available on YouTube for further sharing, comments and coming discussions.
FEMA and the RIDERSCAN project team kindly invites all European riders to make use of this opportunity to generate fruitful inputs to feed discussions between the motorcycling community, EU authorities, researchers and experts.
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