After the hullabaloo with Klim’s airbag vest, you’d think that the consensus surrounding motorist airbag systems would remain controversial.
The Spanish Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) begs to differ – and riders aren’t happy.
According to an article from FemaMotorcycling, the Spanish Directorate-General for Traffic – a government-run department responsible for the Spanish road transport network – wants to make motorist airbag systems mandatory.
While the actual law wouldn’t come into effect for several years, the motorcycle community is already pushing back, arguing that the safety doesn’t necessarily outweigh the unfortunate fact that motorist airbag systems are expensive – and Spain’s Value-Added Tax (VAT) on safety gear would push the price even higher.
Other arguments include why the government won’t focus on higher priority problems on the docket, such as the legalization of intercoms and updating old infrastructure – and a man by the name of Juan Manuel Reyes has the answer.
Reyes is the President of Asociación Mutua Motera (AMM), which recently released a survey on whether or not airbags should be mandatory. 65.49% of the motorcyclists surveyed did not agree with the mandatory use of airbags, with a scant 21.08% promoting compulsory use at all times.
Reyes released in a statement that, “The problem we have is that, when a European country legislates something in relation to motorcyclists, other [countries] follow. This is what happened with gloves in France. When gloves became mandatory in our neighboring country, the Spanish government wanted to imitate the measure immediately.”
Reyes explains how motorists should be monitoring any measure approved in a European country, especially if the same measure is extended to others.
AMM plans on a meeting with the DGT to discuss further details on mandatory airbag systems.
As Reyes predicted, DGT presented and passed the necessity for mandatory motorcycle gloves.
Touché, France.