French motorcyclist’ associations met with the minister of transport to discuss the threat of mandatory technical inspections that was recently blocked by president Macron. The lobby continues.

At the invitation of the minister of transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, a meeting was held last Friday 3 September with Sébastien Poirier, president of the French motorcycle sports federation FFM and Didier Renoux, communications officer of the French motorcyclist’s organization FFMC (a member of FEMA).

For the record, on 11 August, a decree was published, announcing the implementation of a mandatory periodic motorcycle inspection. This decree concerned the frequency and progressivity of its implementation. The next day Emmanuel Macron, president of France, announced his suspension and asked the minister of transport to receive the motorcycle associations.

On the 3rd of September, even before the meeting, the minister announced that the periodic motorcycle inspection in its administrative form, would not be suitable for the future. He informed the associations of the mission letter as entrusted by president Macron not to set up a periodic motorcycle inspection as imagined at first, but implement more concrete and less restrictive alternative measures to improve the safety and environmental performance (noise and pollution) of powered two-wheeled vehicles.

The political line is clear: to demonstrate to the European institutions that between the measures already taken in France and those envisaged, the technical inspection via independent operators is useless because it is ineffective, whereas the measures taken carry effects. This means that the sole objective of all politicians, technicians and associations is to repeal the decree from 11 August before the end of 2021. A new decree will then announce measures other than a periodic technical inspection, which will result from work between the associations representing users and the public authorities.

In an interview the minister said: “There will be no technical control for two-wheelers as it was envisaged. We will rethink the system”. There are two issues to be resolved. The subject of road safety and the subject of the environment. So there will be no technical control as it was envisaged, but we will answer these two questions which are important. For road safety, we are going to talk about a reinforced module at the level of the driving license, and for the environment, we have to be in an incentive logic. For example, we will be offering aid for converting a scooter, which pollutes more and makes more noise than a motorcycle in town, into an electric scooter. This is an example, but we want to be in this logic of encouragement and support rather than prohibition.”

FFM and FFMC have constantly defended the ‘no’ to periodic inspection for all powered two-wheeled vehicles, which has no relevance in terms of safety or excessive noise from certain users, let alone in terms of pollution control. Of course, they will continue to carry out their actions aimed at better safety and to defend their values of living together, which involve minimizing noise and pollution through concrete actions, working with users and not against them.

Source: FFMC

Top photograph courtesy of moto-station.com

This article is subject to FEMA’s copyright