Motorcycle Insurance

Motorcyclists in Norway have achieved a considerable victory as, after years of lobbying, the installation of cable fences has finally been illegalised over there.

The Norwegian Motorcycle Union (NMCU) has been campaigning against the use of cable or wire fences - which are often dubbed 'egg-slicers' for the threat that they pose to bikers - since the early nineties.

Its efforts have now borne fruit, with Norwegian transport minister Liv Signe Navarsete announcing last week that no more fences of this kind will be installed along roadsides and that only fencing deemed suitable for bikers as well will be used in future.

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NMCU chairman Jan-Fredrik Moller responded: "We are very pleased that the minister of transport has heard our objections, and we're grateful for the wise decision she has made.

"This is a victory for road safety, for the NMCU and for all motorcyclists in Norway."

This breakthrough could have a wider impact, with Denmark and Holland having already outlawed cable barriers and the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) and members of the European Parliament calling for a continent-wide ban.

FEMA is now advocating that all future testing of crash barriers take motorcyclist safety into account too and for non-cable barriers to be altered so as to decrease the number of fatalities arising from biker collisions with them as well.

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