Motorcycle Riders Fight Back Against Technical Inspection

The members of the French Federation of Angry Motorcyclists (FFMC) are planning to take the Council of State to court to challenge the decree implementing the technical inspection of motorcycles. They were expecting this and are now entering into ‘resistance’. The technical inspection of motorcycles is set to be implemented from next April, but the motorcyclists who oppose this measure, which they consider unnecessary (only 0.3% of motorcycle accidents are caused by vehicle failure), are not going to give up. The representatives of the FFMC were already anticipating the government’s decision to implement the technical inspection, under pressure from the Council of State, which was approached by anti-motorcycle associations. However, the motorcyclists plan to fight back by also taking the Council of State to court to challenge this decree! Jean-Marc Belotti, the coordinator of the federation for Paris, stated on October 25th on France Bleu radio: ‘We are entering into resistance, we are not going to stop there. The decree has just been released. It’s not a surprise for us, as the government had decided, under pressure from anti-motorcycle associations, to implement the technical inspection. We were expecting it, so that we could challenge it with the Council of State.’ The FFMC is reminding everyone of their arguments and the accident statistics. They emphasize that road infrastructure accounts for 30% of bodily accidents and ask, ‘Why should we have to pay for a technical inspection that is absolutely useless to us?’ It should be noted that this technical inspection will be phased in until 2027. In 2024, it will apply to vehicles registered before 2017. Vehicles registered between 2017 and the end of 2019 will have to undergo the technical inspection in 2025. Then, in 2026, it will be the turn of two-wheelers registered between 2020 and the end of 2021. For those registered afterwards, between 2022 and 2024, it must be carried out ‘within six months prior to the expiration of a four-year period from the date of their first registration’, as provided for in the Highway Code. It should be noted that the motorcyclists who oppose this decision have also planned other types of action in case it continues. A boycott is even being considered by the FFMC. Stay tuned for more updates.