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Apr 06
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Paris Climate Accord Vs Paris e-scooters

By General Posts

Parisians vote to ban e-scooters from French capital

An overwhelming majority of Parisians voted to ban electric scooters from the streets of the French capital on Sunday, in a non-binding referendum that city authorities have said they would follow.

The ban won between 85.77% and 91.77% of the votes in the 20 Paris districts that published results, according to the City of Paris website on what was billed as a rare “public consultation” and prompted long queues at ballot boxes around the city.

“I preferred to vote against, because in Paris it’s a mess. The way it’s organised, the danger that it creates in Paris, the visual pollution, it’s not good.” said a railway worker.

Cities worldwide are tightening regulations on e-scooters, limiting the number of operators as well as speed and where they can park.

Electric scooters accessed through smartphone apps have operated in Paris since 2018, but following complaints about their anarchic deployment, Paris in 2020 cut the number of operators to three.

They were given a three-year contract, required that scooters’ speed be capped at 20 km/hour and imposed designated scooter parking areas. The current contracts will run until September 2023. Other restrictions were checking if users age was over 18, fixing licence plates so police could identify traffic offenders and limiting to one passenger.

On Sunday, operators such as Tier and Lime sent free voucher codes to users to encourage them to vote against the ban.

Some voters said they would have rather had tighter regulations than an outright ban. “I don’t want scooters to do whatever they wants on pavements, but banning them is not the priority said a Parisian. “I voted for (the scooters) because I’m against the rather binary choice we’re given in this referendum,” he added.

In 2021, 24 people died in scooter-related accidents in France, including one in Paris. Last year, Paris registered 459 accidents with e-scooters and similar vehicles, including three fatal ones.

“In my work, we see a lot of road accidents caused by scooters, so we really see the negative effects,” says general physician Audrey Cordier.

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Aug 16
Love0

NHTSA Report on Tesla Crashes

By General Posts

MRF Flash Alert – Tesla Crashes

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wrote, in a document released Monday, that it has identified 11 crashes since 2018 in which a Tesla vehicle using the company’s driver assistance system, struck one or more vehicles involved in an emergency response situation. Four of those crashes occurred in 2021.

NHTSA now plans on studying the Advanced Driver Assistance System, otherwise known as “autopilot,” in the nearly 765,000 Tesla vehicles produced between 2014 and 2021.

For several years, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), in cooperation with our state motorcyclist rights partners, have warned of the need for increased oversight of this new technology. Allowing vehicles to be deployed on our nation’s roadways, that cannot adequately detect and respond to all roadway users, is dangerous. Regulators and auto manufacturers should work together to ensure tragic crashes, like the ones found in this report, never happen again.

To read the brief report from NHTSA on the Tesla crashes click here.

About MRF: http://mrf.org

Feb 02
Love0

These two SA female motorcycle racers defied the Dakar odds

By General Posts

by Sean Parker from https://www.wheels24.co.za/

While many of us were enjoying a break over the festive period and new year, Kirsten Landman and Taye Perry began 2020 by competing in one of the world’s toughest sporting events: the Dakar Rally.

This year’s race took place in Saudi Arabia for the first time and competitors were faced with a route of 7900km. They traversed massive sands and rocky terrain and performed exceptionally well to finish the race.

Wheels24 reported earlier in January that Landman, a 28-year-old from Durban, completed the two-week-long race in an excellent 55th-place overall, while Perry (29) came home in 77th place.

They performed incredibly well over the twelve days on the bikes and the reality of how dangerous the Dakar came to light when Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves died after crashing in the seventh stage of the race, the first casualty since 2015.

“I was very nervous, one of the officials came to me and said this is the point of no return. Once you go over this (starting) podium it’s over. It’s the beginning, but it’s over,” says Perry in an interview on Carte Blanche.

Landman, whose love for motorbike racing started at 10-years-old, said: “I grew up watching Dakars, and you see videos of riders crying because they are so physically exhausted they can’t get out of a section, it is so physically tough and draining.”

 

Jan 09
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Police Aim To Stop Reckless Motorcycle Groups Before They Start Dangerous Stunt Rides

By General Posts

by Todd Feurer from https://chicago.cbslocal.com/

CHICAGO (CBS) — Responding to growing complaints about packs of reckless motorcycle riders, Chicago police told aldermen they taking a more proactive approach to reining in swarms of bikers who speed down streets and expressways, performing dangerous stunts that put themselves and others at risk.

Stunt rider motorcycle groups have become more popular in recent years, Chicago Police Cmdr. Sean Loughran, who heads the department’s Special Functions Division, said at a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting on the problem.

Office of Emergency Management and Communications executive director Rich Guidice said there were approximately 1,100 calls to 911 last year complaining about dangerous motorcycle groups.

Rather than trying to stop the groups after they’ve started speeding through the city, police said they plan to keep track of the groups on social media, in an effort to stop large stunt rides before they start.

CBS 2’s Jim Williams has previously reported the stunt biker groups, which frequently post social media videos of themselves popping wheelies, speeding down sidewalks, and blowing through red lights and stop signs, sometimes coming within inches of hitting pedestrians crossing the street.

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who called on the Chicago Police Department and OEMC to detail their plans to address the dangerous motorcycle groups, said they often ride in groups of 200 to 300 people, speeding down expressways, Lake Shore Drive, and even side streets, ignoring all traffic laws, and putting other motorists and pedestrians in danger.

Loughran said part of the challenge in cracking down on the groups is that chasing them isn’t worth the risk, because it would only put more lives in danger, and actually give the stunt riders what they want – a chance at making a viral video of a police chase.

“These individuals, the worst bad actors, they’re not stopping. In fact, they want you to chase them,” he said. “Many of the riders actively intend to goad law enforcement, on camera, into chases during these drag races, which only heightens the potential danger.”

Police said they plan to focus on using social media to find out when the groups are planning a ride event, and either putting a stop to dangerous motorcycle rallies before they start, or using helicopters to track the groups until they stop, and then handing out tickets, or making arrests if necessary.

“The key to this is when they’re at the rallying points, and swarming with a task force approach,” Loughran said. “We want to flood that area, and get them off their bikes while they’re revving their bikes.”

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who said the stunt riders are a frequent problem on Lower Wacker Drive, said police should also rely on a new ordinance the City Council passed last summer, increasing the penalties for street racing.

Racing drivers now face fines of $5,000 to $10,000 for each offense.

“Lean on that section of the code. Write those violations, because I’ll tell you, a $5,000 ticket, that gets some attention real quick,” Reilly said.

Loughran said police also can sometimes seize a rider’s motorcycle, if they’re arrested for committing a misdemeanor or felony, or if they don’t have the proper license or registration.

“A lot of the motorcycle riders will intentionally never have license plates affixed on their vehicle, or will bend the plates up, or will remove them when going on these rides,” he said.

Police said riders also often outfit their bikes with illegally modified exhaust systems, or simply remove their mufflers, to create more noise. Those violations carry a $500 fine per day.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) introduced an ordinance last year that would have required the city to install six noise monitors along Lake Shore Drive to help document the extent of the problem of noisy motorcycle groups.

However, Hopkins said the city already is authorized to install those monitors under a 2017 state law, and he said the mayor’s office has agreed to install them along Lake Shore Drive this year.

The alderman said the data from the noise monitors not only will help police investigating the motorcycle groups, but provide the City Council with data to determine if any laws need to be changed to improve enforcement.