WHO Would Have Thought

WHO Would Have Thought – motorcyclists are not vulnerable road users.

On October 6th 2020, the IfZ conference was held online. Normally this conference is held every two years in Cologne (Germany) together with the INTERMOT motorcycle show. After the prelude and introduction, the conference commenced with a “Round Table” moderated by Antonio Perlot, General Secretary of ACEM. The participants included industry and rider organisation representatives.

However the real star of the show was Nhan Tran from the World Health Organisation (WHO). He was absolutely brilliant in his assessment of the situation regarding motorcycling world wide.

We at Motorcycle Minds have always refused and fought against the definition of motorcyclists as “vulnerable road users” for the same reasons that Nhan Tran indicated – it’s not the rider, it’s the system.

The downside of being classified as a “vulnerable road user” means that the rider needs protection (with more regulations, control etc), rather than changing the system.

The other participants (excluding the moderator of course) appeared to be out of touch in comparison to Mr Tran, and as he implied “we” are missing out on fantastic opportunities – e.g. fighting the car industry for space- not such a bad idea, considering that motorcycles are far more energy efficient than cars – and a fantastic way of social distancing (Think of bus lanes, parking spaces, cycle lanes, these are issues that motorcyclists have been demanding for years), Why not include the road as well, (for example an exclusive lane for PTWs on motorways)?

It was a fantastic discussion even more so that it was a representative of the United Nations World Health Organisation who frankly was more radical than the representative of the riders’ organisations.

If anybody is interested you can see it here – the Round Table is c.13 minutes into the video.