Romanian motorcyclists want access to light motorcycles for car drivers, but understand that certain conditions are necessary. They propose that car drivers who are at least 24 years old, have a B licence for at least three years and complete ten hours of practical training should be allowed to ride a 125 cc motorcycle. MotoADN president Răzvan Pavel explains why this is important and how it can be achieved.

At the time of writing, the law making it possible in Romania to ride a 125 cc motorcycle with a car licence (B), is still pending. After it had been adopted by both Chambers of the Parliament and sent for promulgation to the President of Romania on June 24 this year, the proposed law was sent for re-examination to the Parliament on July 7 this year. One of the reasons given by the presidency is ‘unclear wording’. The proposed law grants the right to drive 125 cc motorcycles if the applicant “proves completion of ten hours of practical training at an authorized motor vehicle driver training facility”. In the opinion of the presidency, the document that certifies the right to drive one or another category of vehicle is the driver’s licence, and the proposed law submitted for examination does not provide for how to prove the ten hours of practical training.

The Romanian motorcyclists’ organisation MotoADN – a member of FEMA – supports this views and also have a series of proposals to amend the draft law, so that it is formulated clearly, fluently, and its provisions can be implemented without difficulty and no interpretations. MotoADN sent these proposals in an letter to the Romanian Parliament and, in the same letter, we wanted to draw attention to another paragraph of the proposed law that was not mentioned by the presidency, but which may block the application of this law: the limitation regarding vehicles with automatic transmission.

For a better understanding of the proposal, we must first mention a series of information about its evolution – details that, we believe, escaped unnoticed and led to confusion in the drafting of its final form. Without these elements, it is difficult to properly understand the changes brought by the 125B law:

a) At the moment, any holder of a category B licence can drive a motorcycle of maximum 50cc . Many drivers do not take advantage of this possibility for several reasons; the 50cc scooter has a maximum cruising speed of 45km/h, moving slower than car traffic. Thus, a 50cc scooter ends up being an obstacle in the way of traffic and a real danger for the one riding it, because it requires increased attention, both to what is happening in front of the scooter and to the traffic coming from behind. Another major problem with the 50cc scooter is the lack of ABS. In the case of a motorcycle, the lack of ABS is a major element of the risk of an accident: when the front wheel locks up under braking, the result is only one in 100% of cases – the handlebars twist to the maximum and the scooter falls.

b) At the European level, more and more countries are adopting this change. Currently, fifteen countries already have such a provision, and the European Parliament plans to standardize the situation. The countries that have adopted such provisions are:

It can be seen that there are three major elements that are being emphasized to reduce the risk of accidents for this new category of motorcycle users:

• Technical limitations – those who have chosen to impose technical limitations to ensure safe driving. Only two countries out of fifteen opted for this aspect;
• Limitations related to experience and maturity – here we are talking about limitations of the driver’s age and/or the number of years of the licence cat B. Nine countries out of fifteen have chosen this restriction;
• Limitations related to training, to increase the ability to drive a motorcycle – here we discuss the imposition of a minimum number of hours of practical training at an authorized motorcycle school. Nine out of fifteen countries opted for this limitation. It is important to note that seven out of fifteen countries chose to impose only one type of limitation, while five countries imposed two types of limitation. Romania would be the first and only country with limitations in all three categories – technique, maturity and skills. Are we so different from the rest of Europe? In our opinion, it is just an erroneous view of this phenomenon and a fear of creating more accidents.

c) Fear of more accidents. It’s a natural fear, given that we’re talking about a two-wheeled vehicle that naturally can’t stand upright on its own, but also because of the excessive media coverage of every motorcycle accident – which can be explained by the sensational nature of these accidents. The reality is, however, different. Fortunately, the fear of an increase in the number of accidents is not supported by official figures and statistics. Germany and Greece are countries that have recently entered this system (they allow the driving of 125cc motorcycles with a category B licence) and have relied on the experience of countries such as Austria, which showed that the percentage of accidents remained the same, and even decreased over time and, more importantly, the number of accidents involving personal injury has fallen greatly – the vast majority of accidents in the city are now minor accidents.

‘Once the number of motorcyclists increases, drivers will learn to accept and protect them in traffic.’

d) Motorcycle accident, object of psychological study – Why drivers do not see cars in traffic? Because now they are not used to having motorcyclists and scooter riders as traffic partners due to their low numbers. Once the number of motorcyclists increases, drivers will learn to accept and protect them in traffic. There is even a psychological study that shows that a driver ‘doesn’t see’ the motorcycle/scooter in traffic. The human brain analyses the environment and retains a series of elements that it analyses, and the choice is not a conscious one, but an automatic assessment of the brain by dividing the elements into ‘dangerous’ or not. It is a natural process that allows the brain to reduce the number of processes running simultaneously. To the brain, dangerous means something big – a truck – or something fast, like a speeding car. A pedestrian is a ‘threat’ in that he is very well protected by the law and any injury to him has a major negative impact on the driver. From this perspective, the motorcycle/scooter is ignored by the brain – it is considered to be a non-dangerous element for the driver. This can be changed by learning in driving school (a few things about interacting with motorcyclists and scooter riders in traffic) or by gaining experience, and from this point of view more motorcyclists in traffic leads to less time of learning a driver in terms of interaction with a motorcyclist.

e) History of amendments to this Bill – The Industries and Services Committee has requested a view from the Home Office on the road safety amendments brought by this Bill. Thus, the Ministry of the Interior proposed the introduction of the technical limitation regarding the automatic box. The motivation written in the official documents is related to the lack of ability of car drivers to manage/ride a scooter. The Ministry of the Interior made this recommendation starting from the initial form of the proposed law, which did not provide for the mandatory ten hours of practical training. Following the recommendation of the Ministry of the Interior, the mandatory hours of practical training were introduced in the proposed law. Thus, we ended up with two provisions that ‘solve’ the same problem. We could consider it a safety feature and nothing is ever too much here. In the present case, however, as I mentioned above, the phrase “vehicle with automatic transmission” will create an operational blockage in the application of the law because, along with the proposal to introduce this limitation, the Ministry of the Interior requested the registration of the type of transmission in the registration document – which would lead to important changes both for the activity of the Ministry of the Interior and of RAR (Romanian Automotive Register, the technical specialized body designated by the Ministry of Transports, Infrastructure and Communications as competent authority in the field of road vehicles, road safety, environment protection and quality assurance) – change of IT systems, change of CIV forms (vehicle registration document) and change of the registration certificate.

f) Entering notes in the driving licence – The European format licence provides for several columns intended for the entry of certain restrictions. On the back of the permit, each category has the name, date of issue, expiration date and then a restriction column. Codes that have a certain meaning for the employees of the Ministry of the Interior are entered here. For example, code 78 is for those who have a category B permit limited to driving automatic vehicles only.

The European example – The case of Germany. In order to avoid confusion at the time of traffic controls, Germany chose, at the time of implementation of the law regarding the right to drive 125cc motorcycles for category B licence holders, the solution of writing a mention in the driver’s licence. Thus, holders of a German driver’s licence who have the right to drive 125cc motorcycles entered the code 196 in the licence, under categories B and B1. According to the regulations in force, the codes are established at European level, and the codes greater than 100 are national codes.

Proposals to correct the draft law. In order to create a clear legal provision, the terms of which can be implemented without difficulty and without interpretation, we propose the following changes to the current form of legislative proposal 125B:

1. Amendment of article 24 paragraph (2) of GEO no. 195/2002 and not paragraph (1). We believe that there was a drafting error in the proposed law, because article 24 paragraph (1) only has letters a and b , while article 24 paragraph (2) really has letters a – j.
2. Removal of the phrase “with automatic transmission”. Thus, the law will refer to any motorcycle with a maximum displacement of 125 cm3, with a maximum power of 11 kW and with a power/weight ratio of no more than 0.1 kW/kg, category A1.
3. replacement :

“and prove the completion of ten hours of practical training in an authorized vehicle driver training unit”

With the text:

” and of carrying out ten hours of practical training in an authorized vehicle driver training unit.

Upon meeting the above conditions and after presenting a document attesting to the completion of the ten hours of practical training, a national code confirming the right to drive motorcycles will be entered in the driver’s licence, in the restriction column related to categories B and B1 with a cylinder capacity of up to 125cc and a maximum power of 11kw.” Thus, the final text of the proposed law should be: Single article – Emergency Government Ordinance no. 195/2002 regarding traffic on public roads, republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 670 of August 3, 2006, with subsequent amendments and additions, is completed as follows:

– In article 24 paragraph (2), after letter j) a new letter is inserted, lit. k), with the following contents:

“k) driving licences issued for category B are also valid for driving motorcycles with a maximum cylinder capacity of 125 cm3, with a maximum power of 11 kW and a power-to-weight ratio of no more than 0.1 kW/kg, category A1. Licence holders must be at least 24 years old, have a category B licence for at least three years and complete ten hours of practical training at an authorized driver training facility. Upon meeting the above conditions and after presenting a document attesting to the completion of the ten hours of practical training, issued no more than six months ago, a code can be entered in the driver’s licence, in the restrictions column related to categories B and B1 national certificate confirming the right to drive motorcycles with a cylinder capacity of up to 125cc and a maximum power of 11kw.”

Written by Răzvan Pavel, president of MotoADN

Top photograph courtesy of Honda

This article is subject to FEMA’s copyright