First 100% Motorcycle Friendly Road Opened |
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File under News Safety
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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FEMA president Hans Peter Strifeldt opened what is billed as world's first motorcycle friendly road in Norway. The road, RV32  , is located in the Telemark county.
Dubbed Vision Zero 10 years ago in Sweden {link}, the idea was to have zero deaths and zero serious injuries on the road. But initially, Vision Zero did not include motorcycles, since they were deemed too dangerous. After lobbying by FEMA, and with assistance of two passionate engineers (Jan Petter Lyng and Bjørn R. Kirste), the first targeted road was adapted to be motorcycle friendly.
The crash barriers were modified by fitting a sub-rail (preventing the guillotine effect when sliding), side terrain made more forgiving when venturing off the road, signposts were placed such that a motorcycle rider would not hit it and vegetation that hindered the sight of the road was removed. The price tag associated to this extra work came down to €42000 per kilometer.
FEMA are now using this road segment as showcase to other European governments, showing that for a relative low cost, roads can be made motorcycle friendly.
Way to go!! Let's hope other countries adopt this motorcycle-friendly approach! 
It sure beats the wire barriers they have in the UK....
Click here to read more about it 
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