It would appear ahead of schedule that negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Council on the Road Worthiness Test (RWT) Package, have been finalised.

The Lithuanian Presidency of The Council have announced that heavy motorcycles will be subject to periodic roadworthiness tests from 2022.

However giving breathing space to those motorcyclists in European Member States (11 – member states) who do not have mandatory RWT (MoT) for motorcycles and whose rider organisations who have been fighting hard against mandatory RWT, the compromise news is that those Member States may:

“Exclude these vehicles from testing if they have put in place alternative effective road safety measures, taking into account in particular road safety statistics of the 5 years.

If heavy motorcycles are included in the scope of periodic roadworthiness testing, specific testing methods, inspection areas and frequency are decided at the Member State level.”

Of course the devil is in the detail, for example what is meant by heavy motorcycles, what this means for low-performance and medium powered motorcycles and whether the compromise will be accepted by those riders and their organistions who will be affected by this compromise.

“Final Compromise”

With this “final compromise” text agreed the final vote is down to the elected body of MEPs at the European Parliament.

For the UK with our own RWT through our MoT it looks like there is no major change or shake up to our system of testing.

At Right To Ride EU in the cold darkness of this evening, having just learnt of this outcome, it looks like a compromise that can be lived with.

As we have said all along our view is simply that, different countries with different situations require a different solution and that this must always be a national decision based on the needs and requirements of each country and their citizens.

We will be off to study some of the finer details.

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