There has been a lot of talk across Europe recently about banning motorcycles from certain routes and roads, from the Tyrol in the South to the German region of Lower Saxony in the North.
This week, Motorradonline.de reported that such closures in the region of Lower Saxony have been suspended, and the German website predicts this will be a permanent move.
The clamp down on bikes was started by authorities trying to bring in a 90dB static noise limit to allow motorcycles to ride on certain routes - something that to us sounds almost impossible to police and enforce. Those proposals were canned some time ago. Then the local authority for the Holzminden district wished to impose a motorcycle ban on all motorcycles, and only on “various Sundays”.
That got bikers' backs up, and as we have seen with the French Mandatory Inspection for motorcycles protests in France, sometimes people power is the only option. So that’s what happened, only on a slightly smaller scale than in Paris, as Motorrad reports that around 450 bikers turned up to the site of the planned closures to voice their objection to the discriminatory rules.
Small in numbers they may have been, but the action worked, as just two days later, it’s reported that a press release from the Lower Saxony district arrived announcing the good news.
The press release reads:
'Noise break route closures will be suspended - the planned route closures, which the district council last decided on January 26, 2024 as part of the "motorcycle noise pilot project", will be suspended. The district administration has announced this Holzminden district has now decided and informed both the district committee and the mayors of the municipalities.
“As part of the examination of the traffic regulations, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport has verbally signalled that it has decided on the planned closures on various Sundays between Holzen and Grünenplan and on the state road L580 between Rühle and Golmbach Even if the district has not yet received a written statement on this, the negative attitude of the ministry responsible for technical supervision has been confirmed in further discussions.’
It might sound like this news is a long way from us, here in the UK, although the way things are going here (with noise cameras appearing in the UK and AI traffic cameras), it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see such draconian rules brought in here, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.
