MAG urges riders - respond to threat of bad technology from Europe

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Monday, 21, Jul 2008 12:00

An international consortium of new technology designers has been brought together by the European Commission to develop new devices capable of informing, or limiting, motorcyclists control over their bikes.

The spectre of dangerous, destabilising and distracting devices being fitted to your next bike is not one that riders take lightly. There is a very real risk that politicians and policy makers will mistakenly think that fitting car-safety devices to bikes will improve road safety, when the opposite could be the result.

The Motorcycle Action Group today urged riders to act now to avoid future bikes being fitted with inappropriate devices. "We are at a crucial stage in the development of these devices..." said MAG Campaigns Manager, David Short "but we have a golden opportunity to tell the designers what will work for us or against us."

FEMA, the European riders group comprising all the major national rides groups across the continent, has argued its way into the expert group to defend the motorcyclists' interests and set-up an on-line survey so that riders themselves can tell the designers which technologies are a dead-end. But some media coverage of this achievement has painted FEMA's success as if it were supporting the concept of taking control away from riders.

"Bizarrely, some riders have been misinformed about the role of FEMA and now think the riders groups are in favour of removing their control over their bikes" said Mr Short. "MAG and the other FEMA member organisations are utterly opposed to the threat of removing riders control, we have a seat at the table where we can explain why some of these technologies would work against our safety

For your chance to tell the international group of technology designers what you think they should work on and what to avoid, complete the on-line survey at http://www.saferider-eu.org/your_opinion.html before the end of July.