MOTORCYCLES: Like their Continental counterparts, Irish motorists have for years been aware of the influence of the EU on the world of driving. Car-free days, sulphur free petrol and campaigns to reduce car prices or tackle insurance costs are just a few of the ways the EU is acting to help the consumer and improve the environment, writes Lloyd Gorman
In 1998 the EU brought in the Auto-Oil 1 programme to reduce exhaust emissions from cars and lorries. The strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars sold between 1995 and 1999 brought rapid results. By 2000 an EU report revealed a 5.6 per cent reduction in these emissions, with even greater targets set for 2005.
The car has been the centre of attention in Brussels, but now the focus is turning towards two-wheeled road users. Last week the European Parliament and Council agreed strict new rules to reduce motorcycle exhaust fumes through mandatory pollution limits which will make all new motorbikes as clean as new cars have been since 2000. With an ultimate deadline of 2006, Auto-Oil II hopes to replicate the success of its forerunner.
"At present, although two and three-wheeled vehicles make up only two or three per cent of total traffic volume in Europe, they produce 15 per cent of transport hydrocarbon emissions," says the European Parliament's environment committee.
Two testing methods will be used in tandem to determine the revised limit values for 2006. The current test cycle for cars will be used in parallel with the newly completed UN/ECE worldwide testing system designed specifically for motorbikes. During this transition period the latter test cycle will become the sole standard as the old method is phased out.
These more stringent guidelines will take effect from the the start of January 2004 and EU member states will be empowered to refuse registration or sale of motorcycles which do not comply with standards by 2003.
IT is expected that these standards will depend on engine size - higher for tricycles and quadricycles. Bikes used in sports competitions and older vehicles will have an extended deadline of of one year. The Parliament's environment committee is calling for tax incentives to encourage an early changeover to low emission motorbikes, as well as additional financial help for the retro-fitting of older machines to bring them into line.
Brian Clarke, managing director of Dublin-based motorcycle retail outlet, Bike Antics, doesn't anticipate any problems for Irish motorbike enthusiasts as a result of this new legislation.
"Manufacturers of all two- and three-wheel motorbikes have been aware for a number of years now that this change was coming and they have been preparing for it," he says. "All bikes are now fitted with catalytic converters and, while there were initial concerns about how these would affect the output of engines, as they did with cars, they compensated for this and improved performance".
He admits that two-stroke scooters used to be guilty of creating their fair share of pollution and fumes but now all models are fitted with devices which act in the same way as a catalytic converter and are mandatory under EU rules.
"The industry has been responsive to these changes," says Mr Clarke. "I think it would be a good idea to have something like the scrappage deal for cars so that bikes which are not roadworthy could be taken off the road.
"Customers too, many of them returning to motorbikes after a long time as a result of traffic congestion, want to be able to ride again without worrying about safety or complying with environmental standards. They just want something practical that will give them lots of pleasure."