Minutes of a Motorcycle Addict

Rune Elvik of the Norwegian Institute of Transport Economics brought upon himself the wrath of European riders when he in UK media was quoted to ban motorcycles to fulfill the Vision Zero. But today he warns against Vision Zero as being a «totalitarian ideology».

Researcher Rune Elvik became the object of outright wrath from riders when he in an interview with the UK based magazine MCN and newspaper The Telegraph in April 2008 was quoted to say that for the goals in Vision Zero to happen, policy makers should consider the radical step of banning motorcycles.

Tingvall's Vision

The Vision Zero is a guideline for road authorities in many countries. It is the brainchild of Claes Tingvall, Director of Traffic Safety for the Swedish National Road Administration. The basic idea is to create a transport system that allows for human errors in the traffic without fatalities or severe injury as a consequense by incorporating certain physical features to the road infrastructure.

Attack on basics

It all sounds good but when looking deeper into it, the Vision Zero is not an ethical approach to road safety but becomes an utopian illusion where basic human rights - e.g. to be able to choose to ride motorcycles - must yield to systemic transport demands. Riders have objected to this utopian interpretation of Vision Zero and have instead demonstrated that it is possible to incorporate even bikes to the vision. Even if Claes Tingvall himself has stated that motorcycles are not compatible with his vision. When Elvik repeated Tingvall's motorcycle ban message, he became The Most Unpopular Man among the riders in 2008.

New voice

But now Elvik is actually attacking the Vision Zero head-on, claiming (again) that he was misunderstood in the MCN/Telegraph interviews. In a recent presentation held in Marseilles, France, he said that «Vision Zero is a totalitarian ideology and it is a duty to warn against its nasty implications».

Two options

In his presentation, Elvik said after elaborating around the Vision Zero ideology that with regard to powered two wheelers, Tingvall's Vision leaves only two options: Either to permit a max speed of 20 km/h everywhere, or to ban motorcycles.

"Dark implications"

«This was what I wanted to draw attention to when raising the issue of continuing to permit motorcycles and mopeds. My aim was NOT to suggest that motorcycles and mopeds to be banned, but to draw attention to some of the darker implications of Vision Zero», he said, before concluding with the remark that will probably make him more acceptable among the riders.

A fierce battle

Riders' rights organisations have shown that there are no contradictions between a sober Vision Zero and motorcycles. But in essence, Elvik is right. Any regulation or regime that removes some of our basic civic rights must be fought fiercly.

I believe Elvik may have started on a road to redemption. If he doesn't add ideas like front-mounted registration plates and other funny things to his palette, that is...