OLD BLASTARD: The future ain’t what it used to be

Federation of European Motorcyclists Association

They give us the BMW S1000.

They give us the Ducati Duvel.

They give us the KTM Super Duke.

They give us some of the coolest, fastest, funnest bikes in all of motorcycledom, but the pencil head geeks running the country want to shut it all down.

The European motorcycle industry downplayed the impact of a recent paper issued by the European Union with these words: "On 28 March the European Commission presented the long awaited "Roadmap to a single European Transport Area" which aims at achieving a competitive and resource efficient transport system by 2050."

The paper, though, explains exactly what those aims are:

• Cut in half the use of conventional gasl-powered cars in urban transport by 2030 and phase them out entirely in cities by 2050.
• Airplanes should be powered by at least 40% low-carbon fuels by 2050, while emissions from shipping should be cut by 40% by the same year.
• By 2030 at least 30% of freight travelling distances of over 300 kilometres should go by rail or water transport, rather than road, rising to more than 50% by 2050.
• By 2050 the majority of passenger journeys between 200km and 1.000km should be made by rail.
• Reduce road-accident fatalities to almost zero by 2050.

In other words, no cars, no motorcycles, take the train or an electronic trolley and phase out personal transportation, other than Segway or electric scooter, in 40 years.

"Although [motorcycles and scooters] are not explicitly mentioned in the document, the Commission's strategy encourages "the use of smaller, lighter and more specialised road passenger vehicles" leading to a "substantial contribution in reducing the carbon intensity of urban transport while providing a test bed for new technologies and opportunity for early market deployment"," the report states.

Exactly what that means is unsure, but I think Zero and Brammo Electric Motorcycles might be onto something, at least in Europe.

Obviously, the Eurounion folks don't consider that some vehicles are driven not for commuting and getting around but to have fun doing so. Have they never been in a Ferrari? Italy is a Euronion member and you can't tell me the Lamborghini is the same as a Fiat.

"As regards to urban transport, the White Paper also proposes the gradual phasing out of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ transportation, arguing that "cities suffer most from congestion, poor air quality and noise exposure and that urban transport is responsible for about a quarter of CO2 emissions from transport, and 69% of road accidents occur in cities," the paper states.

They look at only the end results of what they want, a boring world with no threat to society and everyone marching lockstep together, the Stepford World.

"The ultimate objective of this Concil Decision was to boost the competitiveness of the European automotive industry and included two- and three-wheelers and quadricycles, given their increasing role in urban mobility," the statement says, although I don't see how it boosts the competitiveness of an industry that it is seeking to eliminate.

The next issue is that, while it seems far fetched and far away, you can bet there are others here in this country that would love to plan to same concept. Kill the car. Especially kill the motorcycle as they're dangerous and if you pull out in front of one, it can damage the paint on your Mercedes, which you shouldn't be driving anyway. Take the bus.

Be careful. Trust no one who tells you that you need to follow their will and their plan because they know what's good for you, whether its from the left, the right,  the Tea Party or a radio talk show host or the European Union.

Think for yourself. Raise a stink.