Nearly 15,000 motorcyclists in Paris swarmed on June 18th to demonstrate against repressive 'safety' laws targeting our favorite mode of transport. The French Federation of Motorcyclists, combined with Moto Magazine, made the call, and the response was enormous. While it may seem like 15,000 scooters mass at every stoplight in Paris (especially in summer), such a gathering of motorcyclists demanding their rights is unprecedented in the city.
Riders started at the Chateau de Vincennes in the east of the city, and blocked traffic for half an hour by the sheer mass of their numbers, as they rode to the Trocadero, and parked their machines.
While we motorcyclists might find inspiration with so many machines filling the Place Vendome or the Eiffel Tower, the ride seems to have worked as a political tactic, as the government is rewriting the proposed policy of enforced safety vests on all riders, compulsory A4 license plates, the removal of speed camera warning signs, making radar alerts illegal, etc...the gradual process of infantilization in the name of 'Safety', even as the number of road fatalities on bikes has dropped significantly in France.
The 'manifestation' was a reminder that motorcyclists, whether riding hyperbikes or classics, are voters too, and prefer to to manage their own risks, rather than the State attempting to manage for them.
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