This week FEMA’s Wim Taal and Dolf Willigers visited Fotini Ioannidou, the newly appointed Head of Unit Road Safety of DG MOVE.

DG MOVE is the Directorate General of the European Commission responsible for EU policy on mobility and transport.

FEMA wanted to talk to Ms. Ioannidou and her colleague Attila Eordogh about safe roads for motorcyclists. We talked about barriers, obstacle-free roadsides, clear view, road markings, C-ITS (infrastructure-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communication) and road maintenance.

Although the European Union does not have much to say about road infrastructure in member states, there is some legislation when it comes to the roads that are part of the TEN-T network; those are the roads, railroads and inland waterways that are important for the cross-border transport of goods and people in Europe.

The European Union can also play a role when it comes to awareness; the European Commission can point out to the member states the importance of keeping motorcyclists in mind when designing and maintaining roads.

After the meeting with Ms. Ioannidou, FEMA’s general secretary Dolf Willigers stated: “We are convinced that we can have a good cooperation with Ms. Ioannidou, to the benefit of European motorcyclists and moped riders.”