FEMA President opens the World’s First Vision Zero

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Eamonn
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FEMA President opens the World’s First Vision Zero

Post by Eamonn »

A milestone for motorcycle safety, said FEMA President Hans Petter Strifeldt as he officially opened the World’s First Vision Zero Road for motorcycles along RV 32 in Telemark County in Norway 7 May 2008.

The motorcycle community has for a long time expressed serious concerns regarding the Vision Zero, the strategy in which road authorities have envisioned how to achieve zero deaths and zero serious injuries on the roads. The concerns are due to the vision depending primarily on bans and regulations instead of adaptation of the road environment to suit all road users - motorcyclists included.

But even if motorcycles have been viewed upon as high-risk road vehicles with regard to accidents, they have been all but excluded from the Vision Zero document. The Vision Zero document has first and foremost given anti-motorcycle campaigners an opening to propose a ban on motorcycles as these, they claim, are not compatible with a Vision Zero. But today, with the opening of this motorcycle friendly road, these claims have been effectively quashed, the FEMA President stated.

The Vision Zero Motorcycle Road is the brainchild of two passionate engineers at the regional Road Authorities, Jan Petter Lyng and Bjørn R. Kirste, who have successfully designed the road exactly as the motorcyclists themselves recommend. It is not much that is needed to make a motorcycle friendly road with regard to preventing injuries in case of accidents: Crash barriers fitted with a sub-rail, forgiving side terrain, well thought out placing of signposts, cutting down sight-hindering vegetation - all in all small modifications and investments that are beneficial for all road users, including bicycles and cars. The price tag for modifying these 15 kilometres of road is estimated to 630 000 euros.

The importance of this stretch of road in the middle of Norway cannot be overrated. It is the first Vision Zero Motorcycle road, not only in Norway, not only in Europe, but in the world. As the representative for Europe’s road riding motorcyclists, FEMA will do what it can to promote this road to other nation’s road authorities as an example of what is possible to achieve with relatively small means, FEMA President Hans Petter Strifeldt concluded.
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GSAX1
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FEMA President opens the World’s First Vision Zero

Post by GSAX1 »

Here is the original article, in Norwegian unfortunately, but the pic's show the soft underguardrails that are supposed to make guardrails less lethal for motorcyclists.

http://www.mc24.no/article.php?articleI ... tegoryID=6

Nice to see that at least some of our tax money is put to good use.

MichaelEdited by - GSAX1 on 15 May 2008 10:02:10 AM
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FEMA President opens the World’s First Vision Zero

Post by Winkie »

I can't see our government taking any notice of this. They would rather use our massive road tax payments (my AJS is exempt from road tax but my car isn't) to pay MP's salaries, pensions and perks. The only expenditure on roads seems to be speed humps and speed cameras - my local roads resemble a roller coaster - massive speed bumps followed by cavernous potholes. The simple reintroduction of level road surfaces would be a major step towards reducing accidents. But I won't hold my breath waiting for improvements...
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