Europe – Breaking cover on 12th October, 2018 was the FIM – Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (International Motorcycling Federation) annual reception and policy debate. This year it was entitled ‘Riders & Drivers: Fighting Invisibility Together!
According to the FIM, the event gathered the motorcycling community, policymakers, NGO and industry representatives to discuss the key road safety concerns of the PTW sector. This was against the backdrop of recent developments in EU road safety legislation.
FIM hosts annual EU policy debate: Riders & Drivers – Fighting Invisibility Together!
As highlighted in the full FIM Public Affairs article, in their opening speeches, Wim van de Camp MEP (EPP, Netherlands), Coordinator of the EPP Group in the Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee, and Karima Delli MEP (Greens/EFA, France), Chair of the TRAN Committee, discussed the ongoing revision of General and Pedestrian Safety Regulations, which together compromise type approval safety standards for road transport.
Following their interventions, Member of Board of Directors of FIM Jos Driessen formally commenced the event and reminded the importance of road safety for FIM as an advocate for all motorcyclists. The joint support of European Commissioner Violeta Bulc, FIA President Jean Todt, ACEM President Stefan Pierer, and Dorna Chief Executive Officer Carmelo Ezpeleta at the launch of the “WE, THE RIDERs” campaign last August was key in making this a reality.
Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, DG MOVE and European Coordinator for Road Safety, European Commission, then presented the European Commission’s work, concentrating on the forthcoming EU road safety policy framework 2021-2030, due to be presented in 2019.
The policy debate continued with two panel sessions. The first, ‘2021-2030 PTWs & Road Safety Challenges’, included contributions from Laurence Atchison, European Transport Safety Council, Lother Kienle, Continental. While the second, featured Antonio Perlot, ACEM, Oriol Abad Vela, DORNA Sports, Michael Woodford, Safer Roads Foundation, Benjamin Krieger, CLEPA, following a presentation of FIM’s ‘’WE, THE RIDERS’’ Campaign’, which aims to increase driver awareness of motorcyclists across Europe, by FIM Programmes Director Damiano Zamana. Commenting on the ‘‘‘We, The Riders’’ Campaign’, Mr Zamana highlighted FIM’s vision of roads where everyone can enjoy the joy of riding without fear.
Wim van de Camp MEP gave closing remarks, before Steve Aeschlimann, FIM CEO, concluded the event by endorsing the increased interest of various stakeholders in the discussion on how to improve riders’ safety.
Steve Aeschlimann, FIM CEO commented: “This annual initiative from the FIM brings together all the stakeholders involved with road safety. Our detailed discussions and decisions around ways to amplify our education and policies prove its essential role and the collective spirit of the cause for the benefit of riders in the EU.”
We The Riders
Until now we had not publicized the “We,The Riders” campaign, this is possibly due to our uncertainty of how the campaign actually aimed to increase driver awareness of motorcyclists across Europe along with its overall programme. This has subsequently been explained to us by an FIM director who informed us that the focus for now at least, is on Europe and the US.
Always wary of opinions from government, we noted that the video message from European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, for the launch of “We, The Riders” stated, “Inadequate rider visibility is among key issues that need to be addressed” adding “protective equipment such as a reflective helmet and jacket can greatly increase visibility”.
Motorcycle Minds Trevor Baird wrote to the commissioner asking for clarification on what she said in the video:
“I would not think that the Commissioner means a helmet and jacket that is completely reflective?
As you may know many motorcycle jackets come with reflective “parts” – and fluorescent parts – the French government decree states that reflective stickers must be applied to helmets.
There is always a debate within motorcycling on rider visibly – what riders can do to make themselves seen, which doesn’t necessarily just include bright/fluorescent/reflective clothing or lights, it certainly includes training for riders and drivers to recognise why a motorcycle and rider sometimes cannot be seen physically by the eye and thus recognised by the brain.
This is a whole other debate, including the design of cars A and B Pillars and also rider/driver”
The commissioner’s representative replied, “Regarding the sentence mentioned of Commissioner Bulc’s video on visibility; it should be understood broadly in a non-technical way, including reflective and fluorescent, and not only fully reflective.”
The campaign also highlights that “We,The Riders” ride responsibly and should make sure others do, too and that “We, The Riders” share one expertise: RIDING. They state that “we are ride experts. We know the roads, we know the routes. We know what’s safe, and what isn’t. What should be there, and what shouldn’t”.
Put a question to a room full of “ride experts” and you will get various answers on what is safe for motorcyclists eg Hi Viz Survey – Here’s Looking At You – October 2014 pdf – 1.26mb and this issue is one of the “We,The Riders” key text of its campaign – “We’re literally not seen by drivers. We’re invisible and forgotten by those who plan, build and maintain our roads and traffic infrastructures.”
While there is no doubt that “We, The Riders” has the integrity of intent to improve motorcyclists’ safety, we at Motorcycle Minds are curious to understand how the campaigns on visibility are to be achieved, without alienating irresponsible riders. Simply it would be helpful to know who determines what is responsible riding.
Meeting between FIM & FEMA at Intermot
Earlier in the month the FIM Commission for Public affairs and road safety met at the FIM hospitality unit at Intermot. Members attending were Francesca Marozza, Jean-Pierre Moreau, Nick Haris, John Chatterton Ross and FIM Europe Vice President, Silvio Manicardi.
This article from FIM Public Affairs published on 4th October, 2018 comments that members discussed the FIM Campaign on the revision of the European Union Motor Insurance Directive. This arises from the famous Vnuk, (Motorcycle minds – Vnuk) and other cases that were decided by the European Court of Justice.
Unless the proposed clarification is modified there will be a serious negative effect on motorcycle racing which may lead to an increase in motorcycles’ insurances. The next stage will be advocacy by FIM and its partners with members of the European Parliament and Council.
The FIM Commission also welcomes the launch of www.motocap.com.au ; (Motorcycle Minds – Motorcycle Star Clothing Rated) this is an initiative by the authorities of Australia and New Zealand together with academic and civil society. Independent testing is conducted for samples of protective clothing for motorcyclists.
According to the article, the garments are then rated from zero to five stars. The clothing is also given a thermal rating which is important for riders in hot climates. This allows riders to make an informed choice based on safety and comfort; as the clothing sold in New Zealand and Australia is in most cases the same as that sold elsewhere in Europe and North America. This new website will be relevant to riders across the world.
Silvio Manicardi, FIM Europe Vice President: “In the afternoon we also had the opportunity to welcome visitors from the FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations) Board to talk about matters of mutual interest. The cooperation between FIM Europe and FEMA remains an important part of our work in Brussels.”
At Intermot, attending from the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations – representing riders was the FEMA General Secretary Dolf Willigers and FEMA rider representation from German and UK rider organisations.
Back Under Cover
After this flurry of events we wait to see what has been progressed at this level of representation of motorcycles and their riders.
If you have an interest then you could follow FEMA on their website www.fema-online.eu and associated social media Facebook – Twitter where we still have to report on the FEMA survey: ‘Banning motorcycles from the road is not the answer to sound issues’
As for FIM Public Affairs, they regularly post articles on their website.
For example, just appearing on the site is an article regarding the, “European Commission (EC) presented a proposal for a revision of the type-approval framework of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles. The proposal, amending Regulation (EU) No 168/2013, aims at facilitating the introduction into the legislation of the Euro 5 emission step.”
FIM Brussels – The latest on the EURO 5 environmental step and FIM Brussels – The latest on the GSR PSR revision: What impact for PTWs? – “The European Commission proposal seeks to improve road safety for vulnerable road users both directly and indirectly.” part of this is to concentrate on the protection of vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and PTW riders.
Meanwhile for a bit of understandable motorcycle safety have a look two excellent videos Invisibility Training for Motorcyclists – Three Things Every Motorcyclist Does Wrong – below from Fortnine
Original Sources – FIM hosts annual EU policy debate: Riders & Drivers – Fighting Invisibility Together! – Meeting between FIM & FEMA at Intermot
*** SCIENCE OF BEING SEEN ***
The most dangerous week of the year
Tonight, we do the annual shift from summer time back to GMT and we’ll all spend an hour or two hunting down the various clocks that need changing on everything from the microwave to the car and bike.
But there’s a serious point too – next week is the most dangerous week of the year on the roads.
Why? Pretty obvious. We’re suddenly commuting home in darkness. Last week, even if we finished in the dark, we probably started in daylight or perhaps twilight.
As usual, the thoughts of motorcyclists (and road safety campaigns) turn to making themselves more visible. Here how a rider on a bike forum approached the problem some years ago:
“I have various bits of reflective tape stuck to my bike. I’ve got reflective tape round the bottom of the helmet, I wear a hi-viz vest with reflective tape on it and use the armbands that are given out free to schoolkids as ankle clips.”
That sounds like a pretty comprehensive head-to-toe strategy, doesn’t it?
But does it actually work?
The first thing to think about is how reflective – more properly RETRO-reflective – material works.
The special property of retro-reflective material is that it doesn’t work like a mirror, which bounces light off in the opposite direction. Shine a torch in a mirror – you’ll only see the light from the torch if you stand directly in front of the mirror. Stand off to one side and the beam will fall off to the other side.
But the tiny glass beads that make up retro-reflective materials bounce most of the light from the source, whether it’s a headlight or a torch, directly back to where it came.
Point the torch at a retro-reflective garment and it’ll show up.
So if you have retro-reflective tape or material on the bike or clothing then if a driver’s own headlights are illuminating you directly, the light will bounce back and you’ll light up.
But what if you’re NOT directly in the beam of the car’s headlights?
Here’s the bad news.
The material will not bounce any light back to the driver.
Have a look at the photo.The bike with the camera on is on dip beam.Which set of retro-reflective material shows up?
You probably spotted the retro-reflective panels on the calves of my old Aerostich riding suit. It was probably a moment later that you realised that I’m also wearing a hi-vis vest with the typical H pattern of retro-reflective material sewn across the shoulders and back.
The riding conditions were were actually a bit darker than the light sky suggests – it was early twilight and the camera adapted to the low light.
In some shots in near-darkness taken around 30 minutes later, the panels on the legs still show up, the H belt still doesn’t.
Now, think about urban driving conditions and where drivers lights are pointed – remember, most drivers will be using dipped beam. The most dangerous crashes are:
:: with a vehicle emerging from a side turning – where are the lights pointed?
:: with an approaching vehicle turning right across the bike’s path – where are the lights pointed?
The answers are pretty obvious. In the first case, directly across the road ahead of the bike and rider, so very little light will hit the rider to bounce back to the driver. In the second case, the lights will be angled down low, well away from any H-style reflective material on a vest.
OK, the retro-reflective effect isn’t quite 100% perfect, and there are other light sources in urban environments, so there is nearly always a bit of ‘light spill’ which reflects back to an observer. More on that in a moment.
But generally speaking, what we don’t see with dip beam is the spectacular reflective effect that occurs when main beam (or a powerful torch) lights up reflective material at a distance. But that’s the effect we normally see in brochures or safety leaflets.
In short, retro-reflective material on bibs was never designed to be used by motorcyclists. It was designed for near-stationary roadside workers, to help them be seen from a distance on unlit roads.
For the same reason, the H-pattern works reasonably well for people and cyclists walking and riding on unlit roads where they are picked up by main beam at a distance.
I said ‘reasonably well’. There’s a problem. We’re reflecting back bands of light, not the silhouette of a human form.
We’re very good at recognising silhouettes, but less good at making sense of patches of light and dark. We have to learn that an H pattern of light belongs to a hi-vis vest and there’s likely to be a person underneath it.
It’s even more difficult when the H doesn’t stand out against a dark background but has to be interpreted against a background of other lights.
And when it comes to the random stripes and shapes typically found on motorcycle clothing or on the kind of stickers we apply to the bikes, particularly against all the other lights, they are even harder to interpret.
By being ‘creative’ with our retro-reflective strategy (remember our rider with stickers on his helmet, bike and ankle bands?) our very individuality makes it less likely that the person looking at us will understand what those patches of light and dark are likely to represent.
There’s are more problems if the bike has a fairing or a screen up front, or a top box behind, or you wear a rucksack – think about what can and can’t be seen.
We have to make sense of what we see. In the worst case, the unconscious part of our brain that filters the incoming visual feed makes no sense whatsoever of our own light / dark pattern and never routes it to our conscious thinking part of the brain. We’re right in front of someone and they simply don’t see us.
Learn more about why drivers
So, what’s likely to be a successful strategy?
Firstly, avoid random stickers and forget buying clothing because it’s got a bit of reflective piping. Many hi-vis jackets are hopeless at night.
Second, if you’re doing a lot of riding on unlit roads, particularly if you’re riding something like a moped or even a 125, then by all means go for an H-belt style of reflective garment.
However, if you’re in town, then you need a rethink. You need big patches of reflective material lower down. The rear of panniers for example, maybe the sides and perhaps the front. Or the bottoms of the legs. And if you don’t want to deface your black panniers with silvery-white stickers, you can get black retro-reflective tape! Remember that retro-reflective material has to conform to lighting regulations – here in the UK that means white or amber to the front, amber to the sides and red or amber to the rear. No blue!
But we still have that problem of making sense of the what we see.
There’s a way. Cyclists have started using ‘ghost’ jackets where the ENTIRE SURFACE is retro-reflective.
They are absolutely unmistakable as being human-shaped when main beam hits them, but here’s the big plus – even in urban areas where we’re on dipped beam, the garment scatters random light from other sources back towards us.
The sheer surface area of the jacket means that they ‘glow’ from all directions and the human shape jumps out from all the other light clutter.
Here’s the even better news. They’re not expensive.
Learn more about the Science Of Being Seen – visit the website at Science Of Being Seen
#survivalskills #advancedriding #skillsonsaturday #tipsontuesday #focusonfriday #nosurprise #scienceofbeingseen #SOBS