• Compulsory insurance The DGT opens the door

  • Volunteer First insurance for scooters

The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, that of Raquel Sánchez, has approved a few weeks ago the allocation of 600 million euros from European funds for the promotion of urban cycling.

“To work by bicycle”, reads the campaign.

Almost at the same time, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of

Nadia Calviño

, together with the Ministry of Justice of

Pilar Llop

, has issued a consultation to modify the regulations regarding the circulation of motor vehicles to implement

Personal Mobility Vehicles

(VMP) the contracting of a compulsory insurance that for the bike environment would be a

dissuasive

and would stop the new sustainable mobility.

REJECTION

The Spanish Bicycle Board, made up of cyclists, jurists and manufacturers, has presented its formal rejection of the mandatory insurance for bicycles with an electric motor, something that in the medium term will end up being imposed given the growth of this type of mobility, according to experts such as Alejandro Maestro, from Pyramid Consulting.

civil liability

Some users include bicycle damage in their home insurance, which also insures the vehicle against theft.

Users such as former professional cyclist Eduardo Chozas advised in a report by the Efe agency "to have civil liability insurance" to repair damage to third parties.

The DIA Association for Helping Victims of Traffic Accidents also considers it necessary.

European regulations

The proposal of the ministries is based on the European regulations approved last November.

According to what they interpret, the obligatory nature of insurance is urged.

"The appearance of new means of personal mobility advises the establishment of compulsory insurance systems that allow injured third parties [...] to obtain compensation for the damages they suffer," states the ministerial document.

other reading

The Bicycle Table makes another reading of the European regulations.

Rather, read another chapter that would leave "pedal-assisted pedal cycles" free of any insurance policy.

«The Directive (...) of the European Parliament and of the Council (...) amending Directive 2009/103/EC does not require the extension of compulsory insurance to electric bicycles (and personal mobility vehicles) .

However, the document that is submitted for public consultation proposes this extension, without taking into account the entire content of the directive, which goes in a clearly opposite direction, at least as regards pedal-assist bicycles, "he writes. the Table in its allegations to the public consultation.

No country

There is no country in Europe that requires you to take out bicycle insurance.

"Switzerland did it, but withdrew it," says Jesús Freire, spokesman for the Association of Brands and Bicycles of Spain (AMBE).

For him, the confusion comes from "the thread of the scooter" and he believes that the ministerial proposal does not make sense.

The Director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, said last September that «in Spain, compulsory insurance for VMPs is already on the agenda;

the City Councils request it and the Prosecutor's Office also ».

The round table was organized by an insurer launching a new product for VMPs.

The prosecutor

Alfonso Treviño, general secretary of the Association of Professional Cyclists (ACP), explains to EL MUNDO that the Road Safety prosecutor, Bartolomé Vargas, understood the reasons for the association.

"Compulsory insurance would be disproportionate and would discourage the use of bicycles, which is what is intended to decongest traffic, eliminate pollution in cities and promote healthy habits," maintains Treviño.

Insurers

Treviño considers that the "stubbornness" of some ministries for forcing bicycles to be insured is "the result of the thermal lobby of the insurers, who see a brutal business: three million bicycles at 50 euros per year that has been evaluated by some of these companies .

In every meeting we have, this hose is always released.

VMP and bikes

The bicycle world wants to keep its distance from that of scooters "which move exclusively with a motor, while the electric bike needs pedaling, it is an active mobility vehicle".

The scooter associations have as one of their main objectives to enjoy the same legal framework as the bicycle.

The same Minister of the Interior, Grande-Marlaska, has been in favor of not putting obstacles to the use of the bicycle for being "an active and healthy means of transport".

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  • Peter Navarro

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  • Nadia Calvino

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