Direct Access
age laws to change
The
Direct Access licence age for motorcyclists is to be raised from
21 to 24 and 17 year-olds who start out on a restricted 125cc will
have to wait 4 years and may have to pass three different tests
before being allowed to legally ride a motorbike which produces
more power than 47bhp.
These new restrictions which were approved on 14th December 2006
by the European Parliament will be introduced within the next 6
years.
The BMF’s senior government relations executive, Trevor Magner,
said “I fear the implications for motorcycling are dire. Through
its costs and complexity, this directive will be a big disincentive
to anyone considering taking up motorcycling.”
This new move to unify driving licence laws within the EU allows
some leeway within narrowly defined restrictions for the different
categories of the licence.
This adoption of the most lenient controls within the Third EC driving
licence directive will allow 14 year-olds to ride mopeds and 16
year-olds to ride up to 125cc bikes.
Neither of these concessions have any real chance of being adopted
in Great Britain. The director of public affairs for the motorcycle
industry association, Craig Carey-Carey, said the UK Government
has indicated that the licence age for mopeds and 125cc motorcycles
will remain the same.
Yet, there are new steps being introduced that will require anyone
who passes their test on a 125cc will have to wait 2 years and have
to undergo either further training or a second test, not decided
yet, before being allowed to move up to a machine producing up to
47bhp. This 2 year rule and further training/second test option
will apply before a machine producing more than 47bhp can be legally
ridden.
With the complexity of the new laws and the discretion some countries
have in applying these laws there remains some disagreement over
some of the controls and the age limits that apply. For example,
the public affairs director of MAG, Trevor Baird, interprets the
controls to mean that the minimum licence age for a rider starting
on a 125cc will be 18 whilst those wanting to go straight to a machine
which produces up to 47bhp will have to wait until they are twenty.
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