German authorities are continuing their campaign of ‘temporary’ road closures for motorcycles. The latest sounds as if it is just a prelude to permanent closure. At Grosser Feldberg in the Taunus mountains, some roads will be closed for bikes on the second weekend of each month from April to October, making seven closures in all. If the Friday before these weekends or the Monday after is a public holiday, the driving ban also applies on these days. It is interesting that in 2022, there are no public holidays immediately before or after the weekends in question. That suggests that the closures will not be as temporary as the announcement claims, and there have been suggestions that they may be made permanent next year.

It seems that consultation with motorcyclist interest groups is not much use. The Biker Union has expressed surprise: “As representatives of motorcyclists, we were involved in the preparation and implementation of the pilot test by the district administration and supported it with our own suggestions,” said Rolf ‘Hilton’ Frieling, Chairman of Biker Union.

“It was agreed that after evaluation of the results at the round table, suitable measures to improve the situation on site should be discussed with all those involved. That is why we were very surprised that the first district councilor Thorsten Schorr, as host, had already agreed with the affected municipalities on ‘noise breaks’, i.e. closure of the affected roads only for motorcycles on one weekend a month from April to October each year, as a result of the pilot project. We found it particularly annoying that the media were informed about this decision in advance. Apparently there are very different definitions of the term ‘dialogue’. You could say that they have tried to trick us.”

The Federal Association of Motorcyclists, BVDM, has also sharply criticized the planned measure in its statement and instead calls for ‘permanent and consistent speed controls’. The BVDM emphasizes that it understands the concerns of residents who are troubled by noise due to the illegal behavior of some motorcyclists. That is why the association is not involved for a so-called ‘temporary break’ as a solution to the problem, but for a permanent and sustainable reduction in noise emissions. The BVDM proposed solutions in March 2021 with a request for an open discussion. “Politicians never complied with this request for an interview, and the letter was never answered either,” according to the BVDM.

This does not look for motorcyclists in Germany, but not all is lost. Elsewhere, the Administrative Court of Arnsberg found the 40-year-old closure of a district road was unlawful, and ordered the lifting of the restrictions. It was originally imposed because of “the accumulation of accidents with injured and also dead motorcyclists.” The judge was not satisfied with figures from 40 years ago.

The police supported the closure because “guardrails had been installed too high and without underrun protection.” The judge suggested that it was time the district administration installed such protection.