FEMA

FEMA Newsletter

Winter 2010

Dear readers,

With this new online version of FEMA newsletter, I would like to first take the opportunity to convey my best wishes to all of you for the New Year. While doing so, it is also an opportunity to look back at what FEMA did during 2009 before looking ahead to 2010 challenges.

2009 saw FEMA more active than ever on numerous important battlefields for motorcycling: road safety first, with the draft standard for motorcyclists protective guardrails, the consultation process for the 4^th EU Road Safety Action Programme, and the kick off of the 2BESAFE project. Motorcyclists' were also heard in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) debates taking place around the adoption by the Parliament of the ITS Directive and Action Plan, and the consultation process preparing the proposal for a new framework regulation for motorcycles.

While 2009 has been more of a preparation year, 2010 is expected to see the adoption by the CEN of the standard for motorcyclist protective guardrails, while the Parliament will most probably adopt the new framework regulation for motorcycles, the new white paper on the Future of Transport and the 4^th Road Safety Action Programme.

As you can see, the motorcycling world is in evolution, and this year, our wishes go to all transport stakeholders to enhance collaborations in order to design a transport system in Europe which is economically and socially sustainable while remaining respectful of individual freedoms and cultural differences which make the strength of our society.

To this end, FEMA will take advantage of its annual MEP Ride to launch the 1^stInternational Motorcyclists Conference on June 28-29, with the collaboration and support of various partners among which motorcyclists from Canada, the United States, and Australia.

Aline Delhaye
General Secretary of FEMA

A new draft standard for protective road restraint systems has been approved by Technical Group 1 of CEN (European Committee for Standardization). The proposal is now on its way to become a European standard.

Most road restraint systems consist of a single steel beam fixed on straight metal poles at a regular interval. While the rail itself is designed to absorb the energy of a crash and restrain an impacting vehicle, it does not offer any protection to a motorcyclist sliding off a bike. Motorcyclists will often hit one or more posts, which have no energy absorption properties. As a result, collision with guardrail posts is a major cause of fatal motorcyclist injury, along with serious limb and organ injury often leading to amputation.

The current European standard for guardrails does not mandate additional motorcyclist protection, and as such, rider safety is subjected to the willingness of local, regional and national road authorities to install advanced designs.

In 2007, FEMA has been granted liaison status with CEN, the European standardization body. After more than a year of joint work between users (FEMA), test houses, manufacturers and road administrations, a new draft standard for protective road restraint systems has been approved by the Technical Group of CEN. FEMA is now hoping that WG1 (Working Group 1) will approve it during its next meeting on March 18-19, 2010 in France, which in turn will allow its adoption by TC226 (Technical Committee 226) during its annual meeting at end of June in Prague (Czech Republic)

EG1 (finalized) -> TG1 (finalized November 2009) -> WG1 (pending - March 2010) -> TC226 (pending - June 2010?)

EG = Expert Group. Group of 7 experts who prepared the original draft. FEMA collaborated with this group.

TG1 = Technical Group 1. Expert Committee composed by over 20 entities, in charge of preparing the final draft for WG1. FEMA collaborated with this group.

WG1 = Working Group 1. Group including representatives of over 40 entities, with member countries taking part in the vote. This Group is in charge of proposing documents for approval to TC226. FEMA participates to discussions but has no vote.

TC226 = Technical Committee 226. Formal CEN Committee where the various national bodies in charge of standardization (AENOR/Spain - AFNOR/France - etc.) are represented. This Committee is the one which will adopt the future EN1317-8. FEMA participates to meetings but has no vote.

2010 should see the proposal becoming become a European standard, should political will go along the tremendous efforts put forward by many European experts to find a practical solution to an urgent problem.

Faced with incomplete accident records, FEMA also decided to launch a wide European campaign in order to get a clear and accurate view of the most common accident configurations and protection needs. Two months after the launch of a Call for Testimonies, FEMA has gathered more than 220 individual stories of accidents involving motorcyclists impacting guardrails. http://www.fema-online.eu/guardrail

With the coming closure of the current 2003-2010 programme, which had set the ambitious objective of halving the number of road victims in Europe by 2010, the European Commission is preparing the action plan for the next decade. The new European Road Safety Action Programme (ERSAP) is expected to come into action in 2011, and will present the plans and objectives of the European Commission in this field from 2011 to 2020. Special focus on Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) is announced. FEMA has been very active during the consultation process.

With a new plan for the next decade, the European Commission is at crossroads. What will the new objectives in casualties reduction be? Ambitious and optimistic - or more realistic and sustainable? And what measures will be promoted? Consistent and efficient - or politically correct and compromised?

A stakeholder consultation towards the development of the next EU road safety action programme 2011-2020 was carried out by the European Commission between July and December 2009. This consultation comprised a series of six thematic workshops and an internet consultation and culminated in a stakeholder conference on 2nd December, 2009.

With this large consultation, the European Commission is trying to have an overview of key problems and identify priority actions which could be implemented at EU, national, regional, and local levels. Actions will have to achieve a positive impact on road safety and public health while also improving mobility, energy, the environment and the economy.

FEMA actively contributed to the various workshops and replied to the public consultation. Read FEMA's contribution:  http://www.fema-online.eu/uploads/documents/safety/20091120-Consultation-ERSAP.pdf

The ongoing discussions also integrate the long-term plans for the transportation sector put forward by the European Commission. With the end of the ten-year White Paper on Transport published in 2001, the Commission is outlining the next policy paper, while holding a series of conferences on the Future of Transport. The policy options will be made public later in the year: greenhouse gas reductions, intermodality and intelligent technologies are expected to play a major role.

At the closing conference, the Commission invited FEMA to express its views on EU added value.

For FEMA, it is important that policies focus on real priorities: human behaviour and infrastructure are definitely top priorities as confirmed by OECD road safety experts http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/jtrc/safety/Lillehammer2008/lillehammer08.html. Only with such effective initiatives can the motorcycle safety records in Europe will evolve positively in the next decade. FEMA also offered the Commission to further contribute to the preparation of the Road Safety Action Plan 2011-2020.

January 2009 saw the kick-off of the 2-BE-SAFE research project, aiming at a better understanding of rider behaviour on the road. While the research community has deployed a lot of effort to study the role of driver behaviour in car crashes, no study has investigated motorcycle riders.

2-BE-SAFE is a collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission that aims to study the normal behaviour of riders in common and emergency situations, in order to better understand the decision-making processes. The project will look at the behavioural interaction between riders and other road users, while trying to identify the errors that cause crashes. To achieve this objective, project partners will investigate accident studies, run behavioural studies on groups of riders, and conduct socio-cultural analysis of groups of riders.

In addition to a better picture of accident causation factors, 2-BE-SAFE should provide the research community with new tools to study rider/driver behaviour, and lead to a better knowledge of the motorcycle community in Europe.

A new "Framework Regulation", a single document on type-approval of new L category vehicles (mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles) , should replace all previous EU directives. The proposed Regulation intends to introduce new requirements in terms of safety and pollutant emissions. The beginning of a revolution for the type-approval of Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs)

Since 2003, the regulation of the European type-approval vehicle of L Category (mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles) is organized around a directive, along with more than 20 base sister directives and over 100 amending directives, some of them 35 years old. Since then, the legal framework for motor vehicles has evolved a lot. Today, following the CARS 21 initiative, the European Commission is promoting an exercise of simplification of the legislation on type-approval. This simplification - which has first applied to cars and commercial vehicles, trucks and trailers - is now being extended to two- and three-wheelers. This new "Framework Regulation", a single document on type-approval, should replace all previous directives relating to the type approval of new vehicles sold in the EU.

Hence, 2009 saw the launch of the Commission's consultation process, with a public consultation which ended end of May, impact assessment further discussed among stakeholders during meetings gathering Member States experts and transport stakeholders, to which FEMA actively contributed.

But we are looking at a lot more than just a legislative cleanup. The proposed Regulation intends to introduce new requirements in terms of safety and pollutant emissions, in line with the EC's objectives of road safety air quality. Measures such as braking systems, with the mandatory installation of Advanced Braking Systems (ABS), new anti-tampering measures, power limitation of bikes, on-board diagnostic systems, access to repair and maintenance information and road worthiness testing have been discussed at length as part of the safety package. Environmental aspects also on the table include the introduction of stricter emission limits, equivalent to existing Euro 4 and Euro 5 limits for cars, CO2 labeling, and in-use compliance measures.

[FEMA's position on the assessed measures: http://www.fema-online.eu/uploads/documents/vehicle%20aspects/FRAM_FEMA_Position_20100120.pdf]

This consultation process, which was extended until the end of the year, is now closed and the Commission services are now preparing the draft text. The original calendar foresaw a proposal for April 2010 to be discussed by the Parliament and the Council, however, the change of Commission along with the new Lisbon Treaty entry into forces will most probably delay the scheduled timing to the second half of the year.

Autonomous on-board systems communicate with other vehicles ("vehicle-to-vehicle") and roadside infrastructure ("vehicule-to-infrastructure") to provide the driver with information about the road environment. The EU Parliament adopted the Action Plan for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Europe, as well as a Directive in this field. This adoption signal the start of a major evolution in the way Europeans drive - and ride.

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) integrate information and communication technologies to vehicles and transport infrastructure, using state-of-the art electronics and a broad range of wireless and wire line technologies. The acronym is an umbrella for numerous technologies, systems and applications that can be installed in vehicles and road infrastructure. It is claimed that ITS applications can enhance road safety, optimize fuel efficiency and decrease travel time using navigation systems. Autonomous on-board systems communicate with other vehicles ("vehicle-to-vehicle") and roadside infrastructure ("vehicule-to-infrastructure") to provide the driver with information about the road environment.

2009 saw the adoption by the Parliament of 2 important documents which signal the start of a major evolution in the way Europeans drive - and ride: the Action Plan for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in Europe where six priority areas are identified: optimal use of road, traffic and travel data; continuity of traffic and freight management; road safety and security; integration of vehicle and transport infrastructure, data protection and liability; European ITS coordination. And the ITS Framework Directive setting up a European ITS Committee and an ITS Advisory Group. The ITS Committee would be headed by the European Commission and composed of 27 Member States representatives; it will be able to adopt proposals along with being a platform for exchange of information.

The Commission is now looking at promoting the development of ITS in Europe, starting with a legal and technical framework. Issues surrounding liability, radio frequencies or communication protocols will be clarified and harmonized to ensure a satisfying level of safety, comfort and cross-border interoperability. Among available instruments to achieve results in the ITS area, the most important ones being: Commission's recommendations,  Standardisation and Co-funding of deployment.

Under these rules and guidelines national authorities, vehicle manufacturers and aftermarket distributors would be able to develop, sell and manage compatible applications, as well as develop new systems in the future. The introduction of ITS raises two issues for motorcyclists: whether useful technology can be safely adapted to powered two-wheelers, and whether their safety can be preserved and enhanced by systems introduced in cars and infrastructure.

FEMA has been active on the subject, notably through its involvement in ITS-related research projects such as SAFERIDER and the European eSafety Forum platform to issue positive recommendations for a safer ITS-dense road environment, where motorcyclists are taken into account in the development, deployment and management of intelligent applications.

The MEP Ride 2010

The Ride of the Members of the European Parliament, the "MEP Ride", brings together motorcycling citizens from all over Europe and their elected representatives for an informal and enjoyable event, giving MEPs the opportunity to experience the pleasure of motorcycling, while at the same time better understand motorcycle related issues.

The 2010 Ride of the Members of the European Parliament will be organised on June 28th, 2010, at a beautiful landmark of downtown Brussels called Parc du Cinquantenaire (the Jubilee Park). The MEP Ride, as always, will be organized with the support of the European Parliament.

A special attention has been given this year to activities surrounding the Ride, such as informative booths, a test track organized by the Centre de Maîtrise de la Route rider training school from Nivelles, and proximity with the 1st International Motorcyclists' Conference.

Linked to the MEP Ride, FEMA organises the First International Motorcyclists Conference in partnership with the American, Canadian and Australian motorcycling associations. The theme, "Motorcycling into the 21st Century", will tackle key issues of the land transport sector - environment, technology and safety - offering a forum to exchange ideas, discuss challenges and offer solutions.

A round table will look at the needs of motorcyclists for the upcoming years, and special sessions will address motorcycling as a sustainable transport alternative, possible improvements in motorcycle safety, and the potential of intelligent transport systems; looking into the latest developments in research. The talks will gather high-level speakers from the transport sector, research institutes and national road transport authorities. Around one hundred participants are expected during the sessions; among them transport stakeholders, the motorcycling community, researchers, and representatives of national, European and international road authorities.

This Conference aims at becoming a regular event gathering politically aware motorcyclists to discuss important matters of policy affecting motorcycling.

The MEP Ride and the International Conference, both concentrated in Brussels on June 28th and 29th, 2010 to allow more fruitful exchanges between partners and participants, represent a unique opportunity to contribute to the global mobility debate, and for the motorcycle community to meet.

The two-day Congress will be hosted at the Auto World motor vehicle museum in Brussels. This unique location, retracing over a hundred years of vehicle history, offers a comfortable and practical venue close to the European district, and minutes away from the city center.

The Auto World directly overlooks the Parc du Cinquantenaire, allowing conference participants to join the activities surrounding the MEP Ride.

By defending and promoting motorcycling-friendly policies, the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations secures the future of riding, hence your passion, your club, or your professional activity.

By supporting FEMA, you, your club or your company, your organisation, your department is helping us continue and improve our work

If you recognize that the work undertaken by the Federation is essential for the future of motorcycling, and therefore for the future of your passion and/or your professional activity, we have set up the FEMActor scheme for you. By becoming FEMActors, individuals, but also clubs and companies can support FEMA's everyday work with a donation

Dowload the donation form: http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=individual-donation

FEMA is now on Facebook. Join the group and stay informed on the activities of FEMA, its friends and riders around the world.

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&gid=92286903222