Bad news for future motorcyclists. FEMA warns that the fourth driving license directive, which is now a real headache with 800 amendments, could well tighten the requirements for motorcycle licenses if the Greens have their way.
On March 1, 2023, the European Commission published the long-awaited proposal for a Fourth Driving License Directive (4DLD). Some important changes were the introduction of a digital driver’s license, a probation period of at least two years for novice drivers and a zero-tolerance rule regarding driving under the influence.
Furthermore, the new directive offered young people the opportunity to take their exam from the age of 17 and start driving accompanied cars and trucks, it discussed adapting driving training and driving tests to better prepare drivers for the presence of vulnerable road users, and a more targeted assessment of medical suitability.
Perhaps even more important for the group of motorcyclists was what was not included in the proposal: nothing about trailers behind motorcycles which are still illegal from the European Commission’s point of view, nothing about riding a small motorcycle with a driving license B and additional training and nothing about the abolition of the useless gradual accession to the A driving license.
On July 28, chair and rapporteur of the transport committee Karima Delli, member of the Greens, published her report, which consisted of 198 amendments to the 4DLD plus explanatory notes. It was remarkable that the report was initially only published in Bulgarian,
Transport committee chairman Karima Delli (Greens/Free Alliance Europe): much stricter (motorcycle) driving license requirements (Photo: FEMA) followed later by Hungarian, Maltese and Gaelic. The English translation did not follow until early September, a few days before the report was to be discussed in the TRAN committee.
FEMA writes that many of those amendments are harmless, but many of them propose limitations. All “in the name of road safety,” as Delli later said in the transportation committee.
The most important are: no accompanied driving (the Commission had proposed accompanied driving from the age of 17 for B license holders), no possibility for Member States to set a lower age than the EU standards at which someone can obtain a driving license. In France, for example, someone can get an AM license after 14 years, but that would no longer be possible.
In many EU countries the minimum age for A1 is 16 years: in Delli’s proposal this will be 18 years across the EU. Delli also wants different maximum speeds for different driving licenses: 90 km/h for the A1 driving license, 100 km/h for the A2 driving license and even with the full driving license A you would never be allowed to drive faster than 110 km/h. That would also be the maximum speed for holders of driving license B. Direct access to the A driving license from the age of 24 will also be immediately canceled if it is up to Delli.
Another important change is the introduction of a maximum administrative validity period of a driving license (A or B) of 10 years (Commission proposal: 15 years) for drivers and riders under the age of 60. This must be combined with a mandatory medical check of physical and mental condition upon the first application for a driving license and at each renewal thereafter. Above the age of 60, you must renew your driving license every 7 years and undergo a medical examination, at the age of 70 every 5 years and at the age of 80 every two years.
After the Rapporteur it was the turn of the other Members of the European Parliament from TRAN. They came up with another 595 amendments. The Greens, Left and Social Democrats in particular) followed Delli’s line, that road safety (or is it a green agenda?) needs more restrictions, and came up with higher ages for new drivers, a three-year probationary period for new drivers, more enforcement, a European system of penalty points, more control and lower and different speed limits for holders of different driving licenses.
On the other hand, there were those who don’t think we need more restrictions or lower ages for new drivers and riders, or a special driver’s license for SUVs, or different speed limits, or shorter administrative validity periods for driver’s licenses or mandatory medical checks every ten years. They more or less supported the Commission’s proposal, with some minor adjustments. Some of them had even taken note of the advice FEMA sent earlier this year and incorporated it into their own amendments. These Members of the European Parliament usually come from the Liberals, the EPP and some right-wing parties.
The rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs must now streamline all 793 amendments and bring them together into a few ‘compromise amendments’ that can be voted on first by TRAN and later by the plenary parliament. The vote in TRAN is scheduled for December 7, 2023. Apart from the European Parliament, the EU member states will also discuss the Commission’s proposal in the Council. They will later vote on Parliament’s proposal and come up with their own amendments.
The new driving license directive and its amendments will ultimately be discussed several times in Parliament and the Council, and ultimately the Commission, Parliament and Council will try to reach agreement on one or more ‘trilogues’. The last has not yet been said about the new directive and a lot can still change before the new directive is finally adopted.
Source: FEMA
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.