Things just keep getting stranger and stranger for motorcyclists. Lately, motorcycles and motorcyclists have been the targets of more and more regulation, particularly for noise, traffic offenses, and emissions. In addition, hordes of street riding hooligans have recently put motorcyclists in the spotlight with calls for more regulation and enforcement.
而应该做些什么去梳众说纷纭at the above foibles, one would hope governments would closely analyze the necessary actions before implementing regulations. Unfortunately, it appears that German authorities have implemented rules which likely don’t increase safety but actually reduce it.
Differing speed limits
According toMotorcycles News, certain roads in Germany have different speed limits depending on the type of vehicle. In the case of Highway 3196 between Steinau and Marjoß, the speed limit for cars is 100 km/h (62 mph). However, the speed limit is 60 km/h (~37 mph) if you are a motorcyclist.
You have to ask yourself why the government thinks that limiting motorcycles to a speed limit that is more than 40 km/h (~27 mph) slower than cars is safe for motorcyclists?
脆弱性rable road users
Motorcycles are vulnerable road users. They do not have metal cages surrounding the rider. If a motorcycle is hit by a car, severe injuries and death are more likely to occur than in a car-on-car crash. So why would the German authorities think it’s a good idea to put a vulnerable road user on the road with cars that may be going more than 25 mph faster than motorcycles can legally travel? Could it be that the German authorities are using the lower motorcycle speed limit for a reason other than safety?
According to Motorcycles News, the road in question is popular with motorcyclists. Not only is the speed limit lower for bikes, the route recently saw special enforcement for motorcyclists. They say that according to media reports, during one weekend, 76 motorcyclists were stopped, with 10 allegedly speeding. Unfortunately, there were no reports of how many motorcyclists used the road during the weekend, so it’s difficult to give a percentage of motorcyclists who were “speeding” over the motorcycle-specific lower 60 km/h speed limit.
Worst case
The worst of the speeding offenders was a 26-year-old motorcyclist. He was allegedly clocked doing 119 km/h (74 mph), and the speed limit applied to motorcyclists is 59 km/h (37 mph) over the motorcycle limit. That’s about double the motorcycle-only k/mh speed limit.
If you compare the rider’s speed to the other road user’s speed limit, the rider still would have been speeding. But the offense would have been a more moderate one, with the rider exceeding the speed limit by 19 km/h (about 12 mph).
In any event, the rider was speeding, but the fine applied would likely have been much less. In this case, Motorcycles News says that the rider will incur two points on his license, a €480 fine, and have his license suspended for a month.
Is speeding really the issue?
But is speeding really the issue? It doesn’t seem to make sense to have a motorized vulnerable road user ride on a road with vehicles traveling much faster. Instead, Motorcycle News hints that noise may be the real problem authorities want to tackle.
For example, a different road in the Nuthe-Urstromtal is very popular with motorcyclists. In August 2021, the local authorities closed the road only to motorcyclists. Cars, trucks, and buses could still use the road, but motorcycles were banned. At the time, the reason given for the closure of motorcycles was the safety of other road users. It was said that motorcycle accidents were increasing, and in 2020, a bicyclist was hit by a bike.
But according to Motorcycles News, there had long been discussions by local residents who felt disturbed by the “motorcycle noise.” Interestingly, the now-closed road already had different speed limits for cars and motorcycles. Cars could travel at 70 km/h (44 mph), while motorcycles were limited to 50 km/h (30 mph).
Increasing safety
Again, the safety of other road users was cited as the reason for the road closure. But Motorcycles News says that even with the reduced speed limit for motorcycles, the “District Accident Commission” repeatedly asked the municipality to “carry out structural measures to make the road safer.”
The municipality responded by repairing cracks in the road with “bitumen strips.” And with the repairs completed, officials decided that the road should be closed to motorcyclists on weekends and holidays between 6 AM and 10 PM, saying that the ban was a “test” between August and November 2021.
The road closure signs should have been removed in November. However, when November came, the municipality did not remove the signs and reinstated the ban in the Spring.
Fair access to roads
A group called Initiative Schraglangenfreiheit filed suit to have the road re-opened to motorcyclists. It dragged on for “several months,” but the organization has won a victory of sorts. A court has ruled that the road closure is “not proportional” to the claimed hazards. Specifically, the court said the municipality’s “test blocking” didn’t seem appropriate as the district did not collect enough data. The court also ruled that subsequent data collected by police showed that only 20 percent of accidents occurred during the planned closure periods.
Still, motorcycle-only road closures and restrictions are growing in Germany. They are also popping up all over Europe as well. Many roads popular with motorcyclists now have similar bans or time usage restrictions.
In my opinion, there is plenty of blame to go around. Loud motorcycles and those who ride these roads like racetracks have some of the blame. But authorities also own some of the blame. They are taking the easy way out by enforcing road closures without supporting data or analyzing what else could be done for safety and sanity.
So what do you think should be done, and who is at fault? Let us know in the comments below.
