ETSC highlights five critical areas where recent legislative changes or proposals are actively undermining safety:
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Small electric vehicle safety “freeze” : a promised 10-year halt on new safety requirements for small EV’s, despite 40% of road deaths occurring in the urban environments where these vehicles proliferate.
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The rise of 60t “megatrucks”: pushing for cross-border movement of massive “gigaliners” that pose extreme risks to infrastructure and vulnerable road users.
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Standards dilution: the risk of a shift toward mutual recognition of US vehicle standards, threatening to flood EU markets with heavier, less-regulated SUVs and pickups.
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Younger lorry drivers: revisions to the Driving Licence Directive that lower minimum ages for HGV drivers, despite clear evidence of higher risk profiles for younger operators.
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Technical inspection gaps: leaving 70% of the motorcycle fleet (mopeds and motorcycles up to 125cc) without mandatory EU-wide annual safety checks.
Depends on the bike; a 125cc Honda Wave burns 1 gallon of gas per 160 miles, ~60 isn’t uncommon for bigger bikes.
Yes, 2 wheeled vehicles are less safe than cars. We can make streets safer for everybody by lowering speed limits and reducing car usage.
That’s not the bike, it’s the muffler.
They also require a fraction of the right-of-way. This becomes more apparent in places with a smaller portion of cars; 15 feet of road can accommodate 100+ bikes or 2 cars. This is the key benefit; by decreasing the area that needs to be dedicated to car RoW and parking, and the overall speed, you make a place more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly.
Electric mopeds are extremely common in east asia, minus Japan. For shorter trips, light-weight electric mopeds that can ride on pedestrian paths are very popular and pretty much necessary for delivery drivers in fully pedestrianized areas. The transition/addition of electrics has been very effective in China where it supplements public transit, but less so in Vietnam where people can’t afford electrics, there’s less public transit, and fewer places to safely charge bikes.
Depends on the car too. Motorcycles are worse for the environment than hybrid cars.
Speed limits exist in Europe. Motorcyclists regularly ignore them.
“He hit me!”, “He didn’t hit you, the arm hit you”. A distinction without a difference.
You can also get rid of all motorbikes and improve public transport. One motorcycle takes up the space of at least 2 bikes. And one bus can transport many more people in the same area than bikes ever could.
That’s false. I invite you to visit Denmark (Copenhagen) or the Netherlands. Electrified bikes and cargo bikes can move a lot and can do so safely in areas with bike paths.
Enforce them. Or even better, build roads that encourage people to ride at reasonable speeds. Cobbles are very common in places where they don’t want to ban 2wheelers, but seriously discourage them. Otherwise there’s speedbumps, curves, more narrow roads
Except you literally have to modify a bike to make it louder than it comes with a stock exhaust. People do the same shit with cars.
You get rid of motorbikes, people continue to drive cars. Bicycles can’t displace cars in car-centric hells the way motorcycles can.
lol ride in Hanoi or HCMC some time. You’ll be shocked by how many bikes they can fit on a square meter of road.
Depends on the bus service. For a BRT with a dedicated lane and priority at lights? Absolutely. In a car-centric hell where buses fight cars in traffic? Nah, hundreds of bikes will get down the road before the bus.