Filenews 15 April 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
Fatal accidents by motorcyclists cost the economy €250 million a year, based on an EU study on the social and economic impact.
This is what the competent Minister Yiannis Karousos said yesterday in the Committee on Transport of the Parliament, according to which 1/3 of the dead on the roads every year (around 15 people) are motorcycle drivers. The transport minister was presenting the two bills regulating the length of the student leave as well as the special equipment that professional motorcycle drivers will have to carry. According to the plans, in the coming months, crews will be licensed so that all motorcycles will pass through MOT, while a budget of one million euros has been approved for three years for the provision of special protective equipment to drivers of motorcycles.
Also, the Fix Cyprus application has been created where road users, pedestrians or drivers, will be able to register data for problems they find on the road network. The data they enter will be recorded so that the road network can be improved.
According to the bill concerning the student driver's license, it is stipulated that it will be issued for two years and then the driver, in case of non-acquisition of a regular driving license, will have to submit again to the process of examination and issuance of the student license. Also, the driving of a moped and a motorcycle by an apprentice on a motorway will be allowed only accompanied by a licensed instructor and the use of protective equipment, namely: Helmet, jacket or vest with phosphorous strips, trousers and boots or shoes, protective knee pads and elbow pads, gloves and back and hip protectors.
For business purposes (e.g. delivery of products) the driver, in addition to the above, must wear an airbag vest, special for a moped / motorcycle. The equipment shall be provided by the driver's direct or indirect employer.
Another bill regulates the concept of "group of passengers" and specifies that a group of passengers includes at least eight passengers, not including the driver. The regulation of the issue is a constant demand of the taxi associations, in the context of their more general demand to combat piracy in their industry, given that there was ambiguity as to the number of people considered to be a group of passengers. The result of this is the creation of unfair and unfair competition towards taxis by including minibuses used as quasi-taxis, without being categorized as taxis.
It also sets a fixed fare to and from the airports energy that aims to give credibility to taxi transportation, but also to improve professionalism and increase passenger traffic in this area and was based on similar practices applied in many countries abroad. According to the results so far of the adoption of the fixed fare policy, it seems that the practice is largely applied and is achieving its purpose.
