Europe: Mandatory Technical Inspection For Motorcycles Back On The Table

#Politics #Europe #MOT #Motorcycles - How dirty politics are. For a year or two, some politicians in the European Parliament have tried to make Europe- wide annual technical inspections mandatory for motorcycles. Some countries, notably the UK, already had the rule, but many other did not (like France, The Netherlands and Sweden).

In many countries, the motorcycle riding community took exception to these proposed rules and did their thing; protest rides. And it paid off, many politicians in the countries that would be affected by the proposed law saw the light and voted against the amendments.

So all bikers let out a sigh of relieve. Until the 2nd of July when a few politicians in the European Parliament slipped in the same rules. This while it had been decided that they would wait for a more detailed analysis & study whether these inspections were really needed. That had been the agreement. Two politicians, the MP from Belgium, Isabelle Durant and the Romanian Silvia- Adriana Ticau fought hard to get the law in. You have got to ask yourself, why would they fight that hard? What else is at stake for them privately?

They want an inspection after 4 years, then every 2 years after that. Obviously you need to pay for these inspections, and they would be mandatory. So it is all about money, a lot of it since these are separate businesses run by large companies. Large companies that employ lobbyists.

Obviously we have not heard the end of this, since the law has not been voted in, and the national motorcycle lobby groups are getting ready their response, and it is not going to be a nice one, in fact it might just get ugly.

I have tried to dig up a report I had seen some time ago about the MOT test in the UK. Apparently, if my memory serves me right, the vast majority of motorcycles of any age pass the test with flying colors, and from those that do not, the vast majority are for minor things, like a burned out light bulb. So a waste of time and money.

I will keep you posted on what is going to happen next, but I think the folks in Egypt have had the right idea.

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