Opposition to Roadworthiness Testing continues to grow. France has now followed Sweden and The Netherlands in coming out against the EU Commission’s roadworthiness testing proposals on the basis of subsidiarity.
The subsidiarity principle means that the EU should not assume authority for something which is better dealt with at the national or local level.
Sweden
The transport committee of the Swedish parliament came out unanimously against the proposals saying:
“…that parts of the EU Commission’s proposal is too broad and concern matters which the EU countries should decide on a national level.”
They also note that a previous decision in Sweden to switch testing of motorcycles from every year to every two years did not have a negative impact on road safety. The transport committee is also totally against RWT for tractors, mopeds and vintage cars.
The Netherlands
Our colleagues in MAG NL tell us that the Dutch Government is also against the Commission’s proposals, again based on the principle of subsidiarity. The Dutch parliament’s commission of infrastructure will apparently debate the subsidiarity issue towards the end of October.
France
The French Senate has also recently come out against the proposals on a similar basis to the Dutch and Swedes. The French also questioned the EU Commission’s 8% figure, and the Senate noted that the MAIDS study presented an evidence based figure of less than 0.5%. They went on to say:
“In general, no link can be established between a reduction in the number of accidents and the introduction of technical control on motorcycles. Spain, Italy, Sweden and Slovenia, which have introduced these engineering controls, have even increased the number of motorcyclists killed in recent years. The case of Italy is particularly disturbing that the number of motorcycles in use has declined in recent years.”
The French senate was also openly critical of the Commission using unsubstantiated figures, and claimed that the figures in the proposal were supplied by the testing industry in what is clearly a conflict of interest.
MAG Ireland Actions
Following our recent demonstration, MAG Ireland continues to pursue the Roadworthiness Testing issue both here at home through the Dept. of Transport, the RSA, and the EU Commission in Ireland, while at the same time liaising with our colleagues in Europe via F.E.M.A. to exchange information and coordinate a uniform and evidence based response to the proposals.
MAG Ireland reiterates that there is no evidence for the EU Commission to justify the extension of RWT to motorcycles & mopeds.
We will therefore continue to hold the EU Commission to account for ignoring its own evidence (collected via the MAIDS Study) in favour of unsubstantiated & unverifiable figures supplied by the very industry which stands to gain hundreds of millions of Euro from the adoption of this proposal.
You can support our efforts by writing to the Commission.
| MAG Ireland have put together a letter to the EU Commissionwhich you can download, edit and send. Simply fill in your own details where appropriate and post it to the EU Commission. Download in Word Doc (.doc) format – here Download in Rich Text (.rtf) format – here Download in OpenDocument (.odt) format – here |
Just one more thing…
Biking today is under threat as never before and at all levels from local to international. MAG Ireland is a voluntary, non-profit and politically neutral Irish riders rights organisation run by riders for riders with the aims of promoting and protecting motorcycling. Whatever you ride, from a moped to a superbike, if it has two (or sometimes three) wheels, MAG Ireland is working on your behalf to protect your right to ride. MAG Ireland’s membership is made up of people of all ages and from all walks of life. People like you. If you’re not a member, please take a moment to consider lending your support.
Thank you.
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