American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 241 August 2019 | Page 18

NEWS No Plan for New Motorcycles in Europe
BRIEFS to have Compulsory Speed Limiters
In July, Black Girls Ride Founder
Porsche Taylor led a group of 225 all-
female riders through the streets of
downtown New Orleans on a bright
pink Polaris Slingshot - "the ultimate
show of girl power" culminated with
an outdoor party and included a
Polaris Slingshot giveaway to one
lucky female rider from Illinois. The
women had covered more than
200,000 miles collectively, and Taylor
said: "The trip to New Orleans put
the spotlight on the growing family
of African-American and female
motorcyclists in the U.S."
Ducati owner Volkswagen (VAG)
has signed an as yet unspecified
cooperation agreement with
Chinese made electric scooter
maker Niu. Founded in 2015
with what quickly became
China's most successful
crowdfunding campaign, and
one of the 10 most successful at
the time, Niu is NASDAQ listed
and with importer KSR Group
has more than 400 dealers (with
workshops) in Germany, Austria
and Switzerland alone.
In what truly does mark the
end of an era, industry
legend Joe Teresi is finally
out of the motorcycle
publishing business and in
retirement. Easyriders
magazine and the rest of
Teresi's Paisano Publishing
operations have been acquired by
ER71 USA, Inc. who immediately
announced that they would be
"transitioning to a total rebranding
of Easyriders. As such, the last issue
of Easyriders in its current format and
package will be the September issue
(#554), on sale August 6th."
The Federation of European
Motorcyclists' Associations
(FEMA) has moved to counter
rumors about the introduction
of speed limiters on new
motorcycles sold in Europe by
getting the European
Commission to issue a
clarification to correct the
widespread and erroneous
reporting that has been seen
online and in print on both sides
of the Atlantic.
"After the news broke in April
2019 that 'Europe' wants
overridable Intelligent Speed
Assistance (ISA) for cars, we
quickly noticed that a large part
of the automotive and
motorcycle press described the
overridable Intelligent Speed
Assistance as "speed limiters
for cars and motorcycles". This
is not correct," says Dolf
Willigers, General Secretary of
FEMA.
Ms Ró a Thun, the member of
the European Parliament who
steered this legislation through
the European Parliament, clearly
stated: "We are not introducing
a speed limiter, but an
intelligent system that will
make drivers fully aware when
they are speeding", but some
journalists have kept insisting
that Europe was about to make
speed limiters on bikes
mandatory.
"To clarify this matter once and
for all, FEMA wrote an official
letter to Matthew Baldwin, the
Deputy Director-General for
Mobility and Transport and
European coordinator for road
safety and sustainable mobility.
In our letter we voiced our
concerns about possible ISA on
motorcycles and we made the
point that no technological
developments regarding a
possible improvement of road
safety should be implemented
without proper consultation of
motorcyclists.
"We stressed the fact that
certainly a measure like ISA
should not be implemented
without first clearly establishing
the need for introduction on
motorcycles. In our letter we
also invited the European
Commission to confirm that the
new regulations do not concern
motorcycles and that a possible
future regulation will not affect
speed either by braking or by
reducing engine power and will
be tested to guarantee the
safety of the motorcyclists."
In response, Baldwin stated:
"You mention some information
circulating in the media to the
effect that Intelligent Speed
Assistance will be required for
motorcycles. This is certainly not
true. As you are aware,
motorcycles are not within the
scope of the General Safety
Regulation and the Pedestrian
Safety Regulation.
"Even if the Commission were
eventually to make a proposal
making ISA systems mandatory
for motorcycles, this would
require an impact assessment
and a cost-benefit analysis. This
evaluation would take into
account the specificities and
needs of these vehicles and the
paramount need for the safety
of riders."