The Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations
New victory for Safer Guardrails, Showdown in June
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With a critical vote today, CEN - European Committee for Standardization - takes a firm step towards making guardrails safer for motorcyclists. Next stop: Prague, June 24-25th for the final ballot. |
The meeting took place in Paris, FEMA, the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations, was represented by Juan Soroa, Vice President of the Spanish FEMA member Asociación Mutua Motera.
The Working Group approved a new draft standard for guardrails, partly prepared and strongly supported by FEMA. The draft features the inclusion of motorcycle accidents into testing standards for road infrastructure.
FEMA has been campaigning for motorcycle friendly guardrails for twenty years. The existing CEN standard leaves out motorcyclists, but an improved version could provide an acceptable level of safety for all road users.
Now, the draft enters a polling phase where the different national committees have the opportunity to send technical comments. In case comments are favourable, the draft will be presented to a CEN Committee (TC226) for final voting in June. If the vote is carried, the draft will become standard EN 1317-8. It will then be transposed in every country within six months.
Last year, the proposed standard EN 1317-8 reached a similar stage but was eventually turned down before the final vote due to too many comments, delaying the process for a whole twelve months.
FEMA hopes that national committees will not cripple the draft with unnecessary comments, and that the need for a positive decision will prevail.
This view is shared by three Members of the European Parliament, Corien Wortmann-Kool, Wim van der Camp and Bernd Lange, who backed FEMA and called for the European Commission to support the process.
Until the final ballot, which will take place in Prague the 24th and 25th in June FEMA and its national members will closely follow the decision-making process. In the past too many motorcyclists had to suffer from impacts with dangerous road infrastructure. It's time to drive the change!