Getting on two-wheels in Germany just got easier...
The German parliament has approved a law that allows 15-year-olds to ride a moped
RIDERS in Germany can now obtain a licence to ride a motorcycle when they hit 15-years-old after the Bundestag approved a new law. The move has lowered the legal riding age from 16 and comes after a six-year trial.
The trial started back in 2013 and allowed some of the eastern states of Germany to issue the new licences (on a par with a UK AM type licence) to riders over the age of 15. The change in law was brought about to help young people in Germany’s rural east – where public transport both road and rail is sparse – to get about.
Now the law has been passed, it’s up to individual states as to whether they implement the new law, it’s likely that the more rural states will be the first early adopters of the licences, while some more built up and developed areas may shun the option for now.
The relaxation in the moped laws comes just a few months after the German government put forward plans to allow any person who is the holder of a full car licence to ride a motorcycle that can not travel faster than 100kmh (62mph). That move was widely criticised by German safety campaigners, who said there was no justification for relaxing the rules in that way.
TheLocal.de report that one in five people killed on German roads are motorcyclists, despite – like the UK – there being far fewer motorcycles on German roads than there are cars. Of the 3,265 people killed on German roads last year, 699 were motorcyclists, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
