Write to your MEP. Use old fashioned paper and snail mail. If you send an e-mail, post a printed copy of it to them. A thousand e-mails can be ignored, a thousand letters can’t.
If you are confident you know the issues, and you understand that;
- high viz has nothing to do with the EU, and that
- there is no proposal to ban bikes over 7 years old from city centers
then go ahead and write to them yourself. If either of these statements surprises you, you don’t know what is actually being proposed in the EU regulations and you should hold off writing until you have the facts.
Either use the text of MAG’s Letter to MEP Jim Higgins as a template for your own letter, or have a read of the following brief documents;
- Click here for a Summary of the Type Approval Situationas it’ll affect you.
- click here to read the FEMA position paper.
Although the high-viz issue has nothing to do with the EU, you might well complain to the RSA about being forced to wear High Viz when you are going to the trouble of writing to your MEP anyway. For more on that click here.
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Gay Mitchell Constituency: Dublin European Party: EPP Irish Party: Fine Gael Address: 192 Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin 6 Telephone: 01 4961940Email: gay.mitchell@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.gaymitchell.ie |
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Paul Murphy Constituency: Dublin European Party: GUE/NGL Irish Party: Socialist PartyAddress: 150 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 Telephone: 01 679 5030Email: paul.murphy@europarl.europa.eu Website: |
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Proinsias de Rossa Constituency: Dublin European Party: S&D Irish Party: LabourAddress: Room 1410, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 Telephone: 01 874 6109Email: proinsias.derossa@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.derossa.com |
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Liam Aylward Constituency: East European Party: ALDE Irish Party: Fianna FáilAddress: Aghaviller, Hugginstown, Co. Kilkenny Telephone: 056 776 8703Email: liam.aylward@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.liamaylward.com |
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Nessa Childers Constituency: East European Party: S&D Irish Party: LabourAddress: Ireland East Office, 115 Main Street, Bray, Co. Wicklow Telephone: 01 296 2263Email: nessa.childers@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.nessachilders.ie |
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Mairead McGuinness Constituency: East European Party: EPP Irish Party: Fine GaelAddress: Mentrim, Drumconrath, Navan, Co. Meath Telephone: 041 685 4633 Fax: 041 685 4634Email: mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.maireadmcguinness.ie |
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Seán Kelly Constituency: South European Party: EPP Irish Party: Fine GaelAddress: 4 Harbour House, Locke Quay, Dublin Road, Limerick Telephone: 061 468788Email: seankellymep@gmail.com Website: www.seankelly.eu |
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Phil Prendergast Constituency: South European Party: S&D Irish Party: LabourAddress: Central House, Parnell Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Telephone: 052 612 4380 Fax: 052 617 0883Email: phil.prendergast@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.philprendergast.ie |
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Brian Crowley Constituency: South European Party: ALDE Irish Party: Fianna FáilAddress: Maryborough Lodge, Maryborough Hill, Douglas, Cork Telephone: 021 489 6433Email: brian.crowley@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.briancrowleymep.ie |
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Jim Higgins Constituency: North West European Party: EPP Irish Party: Fine GaelAddress: Cloonturk, Kilkelly, Co Mayo Telephone: 094 936 7323Email: jim.higgins@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.jimhiggins.ie |
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Pat the Cope Gallagher Constituency: North West European Party: ALDE Irish Party: Fianna FáilAddress: Main Street, Dungloe, Co. Donegal Telephone: 074 9521276Email: patthecope.gallagher@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.patthecope.com |
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Marian Harkin Constituency: North West European Party: ALDE Irish Party: IndependentAddress: 28 Emmet Place, Union Street, Sligo Telephone: 071 914 5890Email: marian.harkin@europarl.europa.eu Website: www.marianharkin.ie |
Update:
The following is the text of MAG Ireland’s letter to MEP Jim Higgins. You can use this text, or any part of it in your own letters to the various MEP’s.
Dear Mr Higgins,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to Irish bikers on the IBF forum. As you are well aware, the EU Framework and Type Approval Regulations have been causing serious concern both here in Ireland and all over Europe. You invited riders to explain their concerns in a non emotive manner. This is an emotional issue for all riders especially as the lack of information from the Commission has resulted in a lot of rumour and misinformation.
As the representative body for Irish bikers, MAG Ireland would like to pass on some of the common concerns expressed to us.
Mandatory ABS.
No one has any problem with ABS per se. The issue is the fear that it will be mandated to be always on. ABS is a superb system on well surfaced roads, however where you have a poor road surface or loose gravel/loose chippings ABS can cause more problems than it solves. Loose chippings are often left as a surface dressing here in Ireland and I, like many other bikers, have regularly turned a corner and found loose chippings as a road surface. In this situation even gentle braking activates the ABS – thus upsetting the stability of the machine potentially causing a loss of control. This is because, unlike a car, the dynamics of a motorcycle mean that stability, bank angle, braking (or acceleration) and trajectory are all inextricably liked. ABS is also unsuitable for many of our tertiary roads (or “boreens”) for similar reasons.
What is needed here is a system whereby the ABS can be turned off when the circumstances necessitate direct manual control of the braking capabilities. This type of ABS system is already in widespread use, most notably on BMW’s best selling GS series motorcycles. The ABS system defaults to “on” when the ignition is switched on. Where conditions warrant disabling it, a rider has the option to disable it temporarily, and it again defaults to “on” when the ignition is next switched on.
The owners of dual purpose bikes such as the BMW GS series specifically bought their machines because they could go on and off road. In the Irish context, they are superbly suited to our secondary roads. Mandatory “always-on” ABS would make them entirely unsuitable for off road use. We are aware that Trials and Enduro competition bikes won’t be subject to the requirement to have ABS fitted, however many riders purchased dual-purpose machines because they couldn’t afford to have two bikes (and as noted above, for Irish conditions this class of machine is ideal for the natural ‘habitat’ of many riders – Regional country roads).
If riders are unable to use such machines off road then they will simply stop buying dual-purpose motorcycles. This could have serious implications for European bike manufacturers. All riders are asking for is the ability to disable ABS should the situation warrant it.
OBD
We are aware that this is being installed to monitor emmissions. The concern here is twofold;
Firstly that people who have for many years safely maintained their own machines won’t be able to in the future if the codes are not easily accessible. The big question being asked is whether only Importers, Distributors and Main Dealers will be the only ones ‘Authorised’ to access the information thereby forcing riders into needless expense. Or will diagnostic codes be freely available to small Garages/Shops and most importantly the owners?
Secondly, the other significant concern is “function creep”. The concept that more and more information is held by the OBD leading to a “Big Brother” scenario. What guarantees are there that the information about speed, manner of use etc. isn’t going to be stored and used against the rider, for example with regard to warranty issues between owner and dealer.
Type Approval
This is the most contentious issue of all. While we understand that part of the reasoning behind this is to stop inexperienced riders attempting to increase the power of their bikes, we know from long experience that this is infrequent. Given the ‘community’ nature of Bikers – Other riders would soon tell you if you were attempting something dangerous to health or wallet.
The primay concern here is that motorcycle manufacturers will agree deals with aftermarket manufaturers to type approve only a limited set of aftermarket parts, thereby limiting consumer choice. Bikes leaving the showroom are built to a budget, often using consumable parts designed to last only as long as the guarantee and not necessarily the useful life of the bike. The majority of riders change only those parts that they consider need upgrading – for example the final drive chain fitted by most manufacturers is often a generic make and would have a limited life span, therefore when we change the chain we would invariably upgrade to a better quality part. The same is true of brakes, sprockets, air filters and exhausts.
Another key concern is whether tyres will be considered as part of the powertrain? Different tyres suit different bikes, different compounds work better in some countries than others. One of the questions I have been asked is does this mean that I can’t put on a different/smaller/larger sprocket? There are legitimate reasons for wanting to do this, for example a bike primarily used in urban commuting situations benefits from a smaller front sproket to lower the gearing slightly, whereas a bike used primarily for motorways/main roads benefits from a larger sproket to increase the gearing slightly. The manufacturers choice, for obvious reasons, is a best compromise which is not ideally suited to either situation.
Finally, many riders maintain their own machines and service parts are always cheaper without the manufacturers brand name on the box. When you limit the choice prices go up.
Please understand that MAG recognises the vulnerablity of motorcyclists, has long held the view that rider safety is important and has worked hard to promote legitimate and proven methods to reduce the risks. This is borne out by;
- our founding of the Irish Rider Training Association – the only national network of highly qualified Bike instructors, long before the compulsion to take training became law.
- We co-wrote the publication of “This is your bike” with the RSA.
- We were consulted on the content of the New “Rules of the road”.
- We were involved in the EU funded “Initial Rider Training Project” (see; www.initialridertraining.eu) the training manual of which is now the template for learner level rider training, in many parts of the world. It is viewed by many organisations and road safety experts as best practise – including here in Ireland where it is recommended by the RSA’s ADI unit.
We get involved in initiatives such as those above motivated by the fact that it is better to have Riders educating Riders than be dictated to by those that while well meaning know little about Motorcycling or motorcyclists.
Yours Sincerely,
Marc O Loideoin
Chairman
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