Around the table, from the left Mr Silvio Manicardi, FIM Europe Vice President and Mr John Chatterton Ross, Director Public Affairs for FIM Europe, Dolf Willigers, FEMA Secretary General, Jesper Christensen, Director of FIM Public Affairs Commission and Hansen Morten, Secretary General of Norsk Motorcykkel Union
FIM Europe Vice President Silvio Manicardi hosted two days of talks with representatives of the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) in the FIM Europe office of Rome.
“Our organisations are active on behalf of motorcycling with the authorities in Brussels”, commented Mr Silvio Manicardi. “It is important that those who do this work know the reality of motorcycling in the South. Too often I think decision makers don’t really get the full picture. In Italy alone we have one quarter of all the riders in the EU and Norway and Switzerland. – Eight million. In the greater Rome area there are seven hundred thousand PTWs in use”.
For Dolf Willigers (FEMA Secretary-General) and Morten Hansen (NMCU Norway) it was their first view of traffic in Rome. The group also visited the Federazione Motociclistica Italiana for a presentation by Francesca Marozza on FMI work in road safety. This includes an extensive programme for schools, also in cooperation with both Ministers of Transport and of Education. FMI has also been recently involved in the training of postal workers who use motorcycles for their job. Furthermore, safety campaigns directed to fans at motorcycle racing events and numerous other projects.
Also very interesting was the visit to the Vintage Department of FMI, where are registered around 190.000 motorcycles.
The trip concluded with a visit to the flagship Dainese store in Rome for a briefing on the latest developments in motorcycling clothing, from high end racing equipment to new developments in protective clothing designed for the city rider.
For the future the group plans to meet three times a year, mainly in Brussels, to further advance the cooperation of FIM, FIM Europe and FEMA.
