Road safety: EU road fatalities fall by 11% in 2010

The European Commission has published new statistics showing that EU road fatalities decreased by 11% in 2010 (reports ACEM, the European motorcycle manufacturers' association). However, country by country statistics (see table below), show that the number of deaths still varies greatly across the EU.

Most countries achieved double-digit reductions in the number of road deaths over the past year, the best ones being Luxembourg (33%), Malta (29%) Sweden (26%) and Slovakia (26%). However there is still a lot of work to be done.

Road fatalities by country (per million inhabitants)

Member State / Fatalities by population / Evolution of fatalities

	2001	2010	2009 - 2010	2001 - 2010
Latvija	236	97	-14.00%	-61.00%
Lietuva	202	90	-19.00%	-58.00%
Spain	136	54	-9.00%	-55.00%
Sweden	66	28	-26.00%	-54.00%
Luxembourg	159	64	-33.00%	-54.00%
Slovenia	114	53	-25.00%	-53.00%
Ireland	107	45	-16.00%	-51.00%
France	134	62	-7.00%	-51.00%
Slovenia	140	68	-19.00%	-50.00%
Portugal	163	79	1.00%	-49.00%
Germany	85	45	-12.00%	-48.00%
United Kingdom	61	31	-18.00%	-47.00%
The Netherlands	62	32	-17.00%	-46.00%
Belgium	145	76	-12.00%	-44.00%
Italy	125	66	-6.00%	-44.00%
EU	112	62	-11.00%	-43.00%
Austria	119	66	-13.00%	-42.00%
Estonia	146	88	20.00%	-41.00%
Hungary	121	74	-10.00%	-40.00%
Czech Republic	130	76	-11.00%	-40.00%
Cyprus	140	75	-15.00%	-39.00%
Denmark	81	48	-13.00%	-39.00%
Finland	84	51	-1.00%	-36.00%
Greece	172	116	-10.00%	-30.00%
Poland	145	102	-15.00%	-29.00%
Bulgaria	124	102	-14.00%	-23.00%
Malta	41	36	-29.00%	-6.00%
Romania	109	111	-15.00%	-3.00%

The table shows progress under the 2001–10 road safety action plan, with EU-wide figures and a breakdown per country. It includes the most recent figures for 2010. EU road safety action plan In July 2010 the Commission adopted challenging plans to reduce the number of road deaths on Europe's roads by half in the next 10 years. Initiatives proposed in the "European Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020" range from setting higher standards for vehicle safety, to improving the training of road users, and increasing the enforcement of road rules.

The Commission is working closely with Member States to implement this programme. Road safety action programme 2011–20: The Road Safety action programme sets out a mix of initiatives focussing on making improvements to vehicles, infrastructure and road users' behaviour.

There are seven strategic objectives:
• Improved safety measures for trucks and cars
• Building safer roads
•Developing intelligent vehicles
• Strengthening licensing and training
•Better enforcement
• Targeting injuries
• A new focus on motorcyclists

The European Commission intends to propose the following measures for powered two wheelers:

• to introduce a number of functional vehicle safety measures like e.g. mandatory fitting of Advanced Brake Systems, Automatic Headlamp On and updated anti-tampering measures (so speed contols cannot be removed) for certain categories of PTWs

• to develop technical standards on protective equipment such as clothing, and to study the feasibility of equipping motorcycles with an airbag and/or including the airbag in the protective clothing,

• to extend EU legislation on road worthiness testing/inspections to motorbikes and other powered two wheelers (which does not exist at the moment)

Source: European Commission

More Powered Two-Wheelers would ease congestion

10% more motorcycles used for commuting equal to 40% less traffic jams, concludes a study conducted by Transport & Mobility Leuven

If 10% of car drivers would give up their car for a motorcycle or a scooter, traffic congestion would be reduced by 40%, according to a study performed in one of Belgium’s most congested routes, typical of Europe's densest urban areas.

As the European Commission is seeking to promote a new culture of mobility aiming at reducing emissions and improving quality of life, part of the solution could come from Powered Two-Wheelers. While the recently published White Paper on Transport struggles to strike a balance between individual needs for mobility and the ambitious targets making transport more efficient, the study finds out that if 25% of all commuting trips were made on a PTW, congestion would be even a bad memory.

The study performed by Transport & Mobility Leuven and the University of Leuven, shows that the inclusion of motorized two-wheelers is definitely the most realistic, feasible and affordable answer to effectively address the problem of congestion and its negative effects on the daily lives of European commuters. Motorcycles and scooters represent a strong untapped potential to improve mobility, promising to deliver results that other options - such as cycling or public transport – most of the time are unable to match.

The investigation commissioned by FEBIAC, the Belgian car, motorcycle and bicycle distributors' association focuses on a case study, conducted on the section Leuven-Brussels on the E40 highway during rush hour, based on the traffic statistics of a regular work day during the month of May 2011. The results showed that "if on this trip and during this peak period, 10% of drivers swap their car against a motorcycle or scooter, this has obvious consequences on the extent of the traffic jam."

By extrapolating these observations to the entire road network, the study makes indicative conclusions: "15,000 hours lost in traffic per day could be avoided in Belgium, equivalent to a total time savings of approximately 350,000 € per day."

Shorter traffic jams that are reabsorbed faster have an environmental advantage too. However, no matter how important the benefits of this modal shift, road safety must be kept in mind. Appropriate motorcycle rider training and a safe behaviour adopted by all road users is a priority to reduce risk. The increased number of motorized two-wheelers on the roads has generated increased attention on the part of motorists accustomed to seeing more bikers, thus being more aware of their presence. This can only promote a greater mutual respect and understanding on the road.

Jacques Compagne, ACEM Secretary General: “The European Mobility Week was a good opportunity to look at solutions for our congestion problems. FEBIAC’s study demonstrates that Powered Two Wheelers are an extraordinary resource for easing jams, making traffic more fluid and generally improving the quality of life in our cities. Policy makers can learn a good deal from this paper.”

The full results of the study are available upon request.

-end-

ACEM, the Motorcycle Industry in Europe, is the professional body representing the interests and combined skills of 13 powered two wheelers (PTWs) manufacturers producing more than 30 brands, and 15 national associations out of 13 European countries, guaranteeing jobs to over 150.000 people. The aggregated turnover of the PTW sector (manufacturing, plus upstream and downstream activities) amounted to Euro 34 billion in 2006. Manufacturers alone account for Euro 7 billion. The members of ACEM account for 90% of the production and up to 80% of the European powered two-wheeler market. ACEM also represents main manufacturers of tricycles and quadricycles.
More information at www.acem.eu

FEBIAC is the Belgian Automobile and Cycle Association. For more than a century FEBIAC has been representing manufacturers and importers of road transport modes (cars, trucks, motorcycle, bicycle) and their suppliers in Belgium, at national, European and international levels. www.febiac.be

Ride to Work Day shows congestion busting benefits of scooters

Escalating fuel prices do not seem to have made British roads any less congested – according to a recent report from satellite navigation experts TomTom, seven of Europe's 20 most congested cities are located in the UK.

As a result scooters are enjoying a resurgence of popularity in Britain, with new registrations up by 16% compared to the same period last year.

In order to demonstrate the benefits of two-wheeled transport, Peugeot Scooters arranged a scooter and 'chauffeur' to collect a local councillor from the market town of Witney and transport him to a meeting in central Oxford, ranked 13th most congested city in Europe. This was one of many such events organised as part of International Ride to Work Day, when motorbike and scooter riders around the world show that life would be better if more people rode motorcycles and scooters every day, with time savings, less congestion and reduced travel costs.

Motorists would normally allow an hour to make the 10 mile journey into Oxford, particularly if they needed to find parking at their destination. The bus journey is scheduled to take 40 minutes, not including waiting times.

"We had a hassle free run into Oxford that lasted less than 25 minutes door-to-door, way quicker than either car or bus, and in plenty of time for the 9.30 start of my conference” says Duncan. “With free all-day motorcycle parking available nearby I can see why people are switching to scooters and motorcycles."

“Leaving Oxford just after 5 o'clock, we encountered stop-start traffic on the A40 on the return trip, but the scooter just glided past all the cars and lorries. It felt perfectly safe” he continues. “Even the heavy rain showers didn't affect us, with the scooter's bodywork deflecting the rain and leaving me almost totally dry. Not only was it much quicker than car or bus, but riding the scooter meant I wasn't stuck in a traffic jam wondering how long I'd be sitting there.”

End of an affair

Over the past three years sales of new sports motorcycles fell by 40%. Dan Sager, from transport think-tank Two Wheels Better, investigates whether this marks the end of the British love affair with performance super bikes.
Since the first 'superbike' was unveiled a quarter of a century ago, manufacturers have shaved off weight and improved performance so that it's now possible to buy a street legal machine weighing less than 200kg and pumping out nearly 200bhp, complete with ABS and traction control as standard. Kawasaki's latest incarnation of the ZX-10R caused a sensation when it was launched this year, just as the BMW S1000RR did in 2010 and Yamaha's R1 the year before. Sports motorcycles have never looked so exciting, yet registrations of new super-sport machines dropped from 23,403 in 2008 to just 14,256 last year. Of course, this could be a temporary slip caused by the credit crunch and global recession. After all, these bikes are a luxury, not practical every day transport.
However, if that were true, then sales of other 'luxury' styles would have decreased by a similar amount. Yet both the custom and sports-touring sectors fell by 25% - that's a big drop but nowhere near as substantial as the 40% decline in sports bike sales. Total motorcycle registrations (not including mopeds) stood at 115,000 in 2008, but by 2010 the figure was 81,000, a fall of 30% (or 34,000 machines in real terms). If you remove sports bikes from the statistics, the figure is nearer 25% so it's clear the sales of these high performance machines are falling much faster than the rest of the market.
Some people might argue that modern sports motorcycles are simply too powerful for Britain's congested road network, but there is another very telling figure within the statistics that suggests otherwise. So far we have been talking about styles of motorcycle, but, in this case, size matters too. While sales of machines in almost every capacity class have fallen by somewhere in the region of 30% over the past three years, registrations of bikes over 1000cc have dropped by less than 10%. Last year one in five new motorcycles sold in the UK was over 1000cc, which proves that riders are not intimidated by powerful machines. It also shows that customers are not necessarily opting for smaller capacity machines that are cheaper to buy, insure and service.
It may not be the end of an affair, but it's clear that British motorcyclists are gradually losing their passion for sports bikes and although they still like their machines to be big and powerful, they also like them naked!.
Read the full feature in Used Bike Guide April/May 2011

BMF Launches ‘Rider Active’ Campaigning Initiative

In a new initiative, ‘Rider Active’, designed to involve all motorcyclists in tackling common issues adversely affecting their motorcycling safety and enjoyment, the BMF has today launched an on-line survey to gather their concerns and from those topics highlighted, construct an action plan to deal with them.

The ‘Rider Active’ initiative follows an impromptu ‘What’s Bugging You?’ survey of visitors to the BMF’s stand at last year’s International Motorcycle Show and triggered the need for a wider survey of rider’s concerns.

The survey captured such a diverse range of concerns that the BMF now wants to break them down into priority order by surveying not only its 80,000 members though direct mailing, but also, through the on-line survey, all interested motorcyclists.

In this way say the BMF, it will not be a top-down project but will involve the BMF’s regional network of representatives too. After collecting riders concerns, guidance and briefings focused on local findings will be available enabling those riders, along with local BMF Regional Representatives, to take action themselves along with any national action taken by the BMF.

Over the year, four major issues will be focussed on as determined by the survey, all of them designed to gather grass roots concerns and involve local riders.

Launched today, the Rider Active survey will also be carried in the BMF’s re-launched Motorcycle Rider magazine published later this month.

Chris Hodder, the BMF’s Government Relations Executive said: “This represents a new way of working for the BMF, empowering local riders and putting the resources of the BMF in their hands. In this way we will be addressing the issues that they really care about.”

For further information and to take part in the survey, riders should log on to:

http://www.bmf.co.uk/pages/bmf_main_pages.php?main_page_id=999

OK COMMUTER

UK traffic levels rose by 8% between 1999 to 2009 and the average vehicle speed during the peak morning rush hour on locally managed 'A' roads is now just 25 mph. So why aren't hard pressed commuters turning to motorcycles in their thousands to solve their transport woes? Come to think of it, why aren't more motorcycle owners riding to work?

Not only does Great Britain have one of the lowest motorcycle ownership rates in Europe, (only the Republic of Ireland has a fewer bike owners), but we don't seem to use them very much. Although one in every 33 vehicles is a motorcycle, they account for just 1% of traffic.

That's becuas the average annual mileage for private cars is 12,000, but for a motorcycle it's less than 4,000. However, it's not only the distance travelled by bike that is lower than cars, but also the frequency. Figures released by the Department for Transport show that the number of weekly trips made by bike has decreased from 11 in the mid 1980's to eight by 2008. During the same period the average distance driven per week, and the amount of time spent doing it, have both increased. Add into that escalating fuel prices (over £6 for a gallon of unleaded is being reported in Jan 2011) and you would expect more people using two wheelers to save time and money, whereas in fact people are riding fewer miles less often.

As proved by the recent winter, the coldest in years, British riders are at the mercy of the weather. Riding in the UK is highly seasonal, April through to September being the peak months. A wet summer, like 2009 when UK rainfall was 40% above average, reduces the limited riding season still further. Since most households with a bike also own at least one car, the vast majority of Britain's 1.3 million motorcyclists can always leave the bike parked on rainy days and drive to work instead.

This is a great shame, because we are completely reliant on cars in this country, with seven out of ten people outside London travelling to work by car. Even a modest increase in motorcycle use could make a significant impact in reducing congestion, but how can existing owners be encouraged to use their bikes more often? Opening up bus lanes to bikes nationwide would certanly be an incentive and would remove much of the risk that is inherent when filtering through queuing traffic. Meanwhile the motorcycle industry needs to consider how it sells and markets new machines. While supersport bikes offer unrivalled levels of performance, they are not ideal transport for short distance commuting. So how do we make pratical middleweight all-rounder motorcycles more atractive?