Do you ride any type of motorcycle, scooter, three-wheeler, or moped in Europe? If so, this news is extremely relevant to your interests. As of February, 2021, a rather messy tug-of-war over periodic technical inspections (PTI) for all motorized two- and three-wheelers throughout the EU came to a head. The European Parliament Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) officially requested the European Commission to include all these vehicles for every European Union member state.
Prior to inclusion, TRAN did also request that a cost-benefit analysis for such treatment of sub-125cc motorcycles and mopeds be conducted. Still, the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA, and not the emergency management one) has a bone to pick with this legislation, which it and member organizations have been fighting for some time now.
As it currently stands, some EU member states already have PTI regulations in place for different categories of motorcycles and mopeds. What FEMA argues is that these new, mandatory PTI demands come from a large lobby that mysteriously (!) includes plenty of technical inspection companies. Now, why would they want to drive more business to their facilities with mandatory inspections, we wonder?
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Meanwhile, FEMA gathered its member organizations to counter-lobby with facts, including a key statistic it cites that less than one percent of motorcycle crashes are caused by technical defects, of the kind that may not even have been uncovered by PTI. As you’ve probably noticed with other regulated mandatory vehicle testing, inspectors typically don’t go every single nut and bolt of any vehicle.
Anyway, on February 25, 2021, TRAN officially sent its requests to the European Parliament. These include mandatory PTI of any powered two-wheeled vehicles with displacement above 125cc, along with a provision to also include those below 125cc once that cost/benefit analysis is completed. Additionally, it requested that testing locations be made available to moped riders in remote areas.
TRAN also requested that at least 5 percent of roadside inspections be conducted on powered two-wheelers. An additional stipulation is an enhanced inspection schedule for all two-wheelers involved in delivery and transport.
What does this all mean? FEMA doesn’t anticipate current PTI rules to change for the next few years, because all the next legislative steps take time. However, as things currently stand, mandatory PTI rules are on the horizon—even if they’re somewhere off in the distance.
Source: FEMA