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FEMA hits out at European Parliament over road safety climb down
The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) has criticised the European Parliament for rejecting plans that it claims could have saved countless lives.
Under these proposals, the EU would have been required to formulate guidelines for its member states on how safety needs could be integrated into the planning, construction and operation of their roads.
Yet the Parliament's Transport Committee voted against implementing the directive earlier this month, branding the strategy bureaucratic, expensive and unnecessary, in a move that has infuriated FEMA.
The organisation retorted: "The European Parliament obviously steps backward and shows a total lack of political consistency.
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"FEMA wishes to express its strong disappointment and underlines that in this context, it will not be ready to accept any additional restrictive regulation aiming at so-called motorcycle safety improvement if the issue of infrastructure is not being addressed."
It estimated that by implementing the proposals, the EU could have reduced the number of road injuries by 7,000 each year and the annual number of deaths by 600, with vulnerable road users like motorcyclists benefiting in particular.
This is not the first time that FEMA has found itself at loggerheads with the European Parliament, having already lambasted its members last year after they voted in favour of restricting young riders' access to more powerful bikes.
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