New motorcycle test deferred until 2008

The plans to change the motorcycle test to include obstacle avoidance have been deferred, allowing member EU states until September 30, 2008 to introduce the new test.

The European Commission directive came under fire from the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF) and other groups, mainly due to the need to train riders to avoid an obstacle when travelling in excess of 50 kph.

” It would require a large and costly off-road site equivalent to the size of a football pitch for both training and testing, ” explained RMIF director Frank Finch.

It’s not yet clear how this will affect smaller training companies unable to afford suitable off-road facilities, but an RMIF conference attracted over 100 delegates who believed the implementation would be prohibitively expensive.

Before the lobbying, the new rules were to be put in place by October 11, 2005. To read what the new test is expected to involve, follow the link on the right ‘Changes to motorcycle test from 2005’.

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