Straight from the website of the French Riders Group – FFMC – the end of their government plans for riders to wear hi-viz is finally transposed into law to carry a hi-viz vest on/in their motorcycle and other vehicles – three-wheeled motorized or non bodywork motor quadricycle.
The hi-viz should have a CE mark certifying it meets regulations – however we assume that if as a visiting rider to France you will be required to carry hi-viz equipment that meets requirements to – emit direct or reflected visible radiation having a luminous intensity and appropriate photometric and colorimetric properties.
There you go – let us know if you find one?
Yellow jacket for motorized two-wheel
Original source – FFMC – Click Here
What exactly has the new regulations? To whom is it directed? What are the penalties?
Update on the announcement that that panicked the motorcycling community …
3 obligations
The decree actually contains three obligations:
The requirement to hold:
- Every driver of a motorized two-wheelers, motorized three-wheelers or motor quadricycle without fairing shall have a high visibility vest on them or in a storage of the vehicle.
The obligation to take:
- The vest must be worn if the driver will have to leave their stranded vehicle on the roadway or its surroundings, after an emergency stop.
The requirement to submit the vest:
- If traffic stop, the driver will be required to justify to the police or gendarmerie, that they actually have a high visibility vest.
Fines but no withdrawal licence points
The failure to have a high visibility vest be punished with a fine first-class €11. This will increase to €135 in case of non-use in emergency situations.
The offender will not incur any withdrawal of item.
A vest in a broad sense
According to the decree of 29 September 2008, is considered vest “any garment worn on the upper body, such as jacket, parka, vest, shirt or tunic.”
A lack of precision, it should admit that this list is exhaustive and that a simple retro-reflective armband therefore not sufficient to meet the requirement to hold a vest.
The equipment selected should have a CE mark certifying that it has “one or more judiciously placed devices or appliances emitting direct or reflected visible radiation of appropriate luminous intensity and photometric and colorimetric properties.“
No mandatory traffic vest
Contrary to the rumor, the decreed measure contains only the obligation to keep and bear a vest in emergencies, not to wear it constantly in circulation.
And indeed, the threat of resurgence obliged to circulate, day and night, with a retro-reflective equipment definitely looks away as the article that had put in place has been repealed (single sound implementing order was suppressed in 2011, making the fact inapplicable).
A measure that does not always respond to the causes of road accidents
In the end, for the FFMC, the measure, introduced last January 26 by the Minister of the Interior in response to the increasing number of road accidents, will have no effect on road safety since the proportion of injured at the two-wheelers are doing while they are on the side of the road is extremely low compared to all motorcycle injuries.
The Federation fears the contrary, that this new obligation to place greater danger when the biker will have, on the side of the road, get out of his vehicle and raise the saddle to grab his jacket.
References:
Decree No 2015-514 of 7 May 2015 concerning the detention and port high visibility vest – Link
Decree of 7 May 2015 amending the order of 29 September 2008 on the high visibility vest
Article R233-1 of the Highway Code
Article R416-19 of the Highway Code
Annex II of Article R4312-6 labor code.
Original source – FFMC – Click Here
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