The European Court of Justice has ruled that electric bicycles are bicycles and not motorcycles, a decision that has important legal implications

The European Court of Justice has ruled that electric assist bicycles, or e-bikes, are not motor vehicles. While this may seem like a common sense decision, it was also an important one for the classification of e-bikes.

By classifying e-bikes as not being motor vehicles, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) classified them as bicycles and therefore as vulnerable road users. It also means that e-bikes don’t need insurance, like a car or motorcycle.

The decision was made on the basis of the way an electric bike is propelled, which is essentially non-mechanical, and because of the relatively low speeds at which an electric bike can accelerate without pedaling.

The debate surrounding the classification of electric bicycles has been ongoing since their initial appearance, reports the Global Cycling Network. This ECJ resolution originated from a Belgian case in which a cyclist riding an electric bike was hit by a car and died as a result of his injuries. During the court proceedings, the question of the cyclist’s right to compensation was discussed, in which the classification of his mode of transport was taken into account.

The Belgian courts referred the case to the ECJ, seeking an answer to the question of classification. The ECJ ruled that “devices which are not powered exclusively by mechanical energy, such as an electric bicycle which can accelerate up to 20 km/h without pedaling, do not appear to be capable of causing bodily harm or material damage to third parties comparable to the damage which can be caused by motorcycles, cars, lorries or other vehicles powered exclusively by mechanical energy, which can reach significantly higher speeds”.

O conteúdo E-Bikes or Electric Bikes are not motorcycles – EU court rules aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

In Europe, some people are proposing to lower the speed limits for motorcycles, and we’re impressed by this, not least because it’s not a joke, but a proposal that comes from none other than the Frenchwoman Karima Delli, who is not just any MEP, but the chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism.

We recently explained how we are moving towards simplifying the process of obtaining motorcycle licenses with the procedure launched on September 18 last year, which authorizes training courses instead of practical exams for categories A2 and A. In contrast, the proposal to amend the EU directive on driving licenses, which aims to increase the minimum age for driving a motorcycle depending on the cylinder capacity and, at the same time, reduce the speed limits allowed for motorcycles, goes in the opposite direction.

This is what is contained in a series of amendments to the European Parliament’s draft legislative resolution on the proposal for a directive on driving licenses. As already mentioned, the author is French MEP Karima Delli, who chairs the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism, so there’s all the more reason to take them seriously. The noble aim of the draft legislative resolution is, of course, to further increase road safety in order to achieve “Vision Zero”, which defines the end of road deaths by 2050. We can’t help but agree with the intentions, least of all this latest proposal, which blatantly penalizes two-wheeled vehicles to the point of ridiculousness.

Here are the amendments in question:

“Without prejudice to the speed limit on each road set by the national authorities, the absolute maximum speed allowed by Member States for drivers of category A1 vehicles shall not exceed 90 km/h, for drivers of category A2 vehicles shall not exceed 100 km/h, for drivers of category A vehicles shall not exceed 110 km/h. Maximum speed of 90 km/h also for heavy quadricycles”.

This means that, even with an A license, it would no longer be possible to reach the 130 km/h limit on freeways, which is simply absurd and nonsensical and has very little, in our opinion, to do with road safety.

Among the extravagant proposals, there is also one on raising the minimum age required to drive a motorcycle. In practice, the minimum age will be raised by two years, depending on the cylinder capacity:

– 16 years for category AM, i.e. mopeds;

– 18 for categories A1 and A2

– 20 for category A motorcycles. However, the permit is conditional on acquiring at least two years’ experience on A2 motorcycles.

However, there is another amendment that would authorize EU states to raise the minimum age for issuing an AM license to 18, for the A2 to 20 and for the A to 22.

These are proposals and nothing has been approved or finalized, but we reiterate that these are amendments that have been officially presented as part of a project to amend the European directive on driving licenses. It seems to us, however, that, as is unfortunately often the case, those who find themselves having to propose these laws probably know little about the subject in practice. We agree that there is a road safety problem, we talk about it on a daily basis, including on our website, but these proposals don’t seem to be going in the desired direction, merely penalizing motorcycle drivers. Instead, it would be much more important to work urgently and intensively on the preparation and civic education of those who drive vehicles, regardless of the number of wheels. The Member States should therefore work concretely on road maintenance and not on setting different and absurd speed limits.

O conteúdo Motorcycle driving licenses – revolutionary proposal in the EU – raising the minimum age and reducing speed limits aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.