In Germany, a motorcyclists are penalised for riding within the wrong speed limit.
Wrong speed limit? So, they are doing the speed of one road, on another road where another applies. What’s special about that?
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Well, that is not exactly the situation.
There are roads in Germany where motorcycles have different speed limits to cars. For example, as Motorcycles News reports, the 3196 highway between Steinau and Marjoẞ in the Spessart region has a 100kph limit for cars, but motorcycles are limited to 60kph.
One KTM rider was clocked through the road at 120kph: double the limit for bikes, but “only” (speaking relatively) 20kph above the limit for cars.
While speed limits exist mostly for safety, legislators are increasingly looking for ways to decrease noise. In Britain - as well as other places - we have ‘noise cameras’, which are being trialled this summer, and speed limits can assist here, too, since, theoretically, travelling slower will make less noise.
However, it is quite possible to argue here that the difference between a motorcycle travelling at 60kph and a car travelling at 100kph would be in fact quite dangerous should they meet.
It does not take a great deal of knowledge of motorcycles to understand that they weigh less than a car, and that the rider of a motorcycle is more exposed than the driver of a car.
On the circuits, we see with frustrating frequency that riders will slow down on-track in qualifying and free practice in order to wait for a faster rider to come by so they can use that faster rider as a marker, and a source of slipstream.
However, the on-track cruising can create dangerous situations where speed differences between bikes are significant. An impact between two bikes in these scenarios would be disastrous, and clearly the same can apply to this scenario in Germany where heavy cars are travelling 40kph faster than motorcycles with their exposed riders.
Perhaps some motorcycle riders, like the aforementioned KTM rider, can riddle irresponsibly at times. But, does that really necessitate creating an unnecessarily dangerous situation - not only for bikers, but also for car drivers?
