New French Gloves Law

[YamFazFan]

 An article in this months Vintage Motorcycle Club book drew my attention to this.

 Apparently France has introduced a new law making it compulsory to wear gloves when riding a motorcycle.

 http://www.motofire.com/2016/09/news/france-forces-bikers-wear-gloves-face-fine/

[Dudeofrude]

Meh, French are crazy. Surely it would make more sense to enforce a protective jacket?

[locksmith]

Here we go, no doubt they will ride out en masse and bring Paris to a standstill over this diabolical abuse of human rights

[lew600fazer]

Why would you not want to wear gloves in the first place? If the law was changed in the UK that the wearing of crash helmets was no longer compulsory what % of  serious bikers would ditch their helmets. I bet it would not be many. During an off probably the hands are one of the first parts of the body to suffer gravel rash.
So I reckon that this law is a ++++ for France.

[Bretty]

I frequently see scooter riders without gloves. That's nuts! For some reason your brain thinks in a fall the best thing to do is put your hands out... and slide down the tarmac at 40mph on your palms.

[Bretty]

Crazy French!

[darrsi]

Have some fun with our French friends, by fetching some gloves from your top box, put them on in front of them, then take one off and slap the copper round the chops with it and challenge him to a duel. 
Looks great in films.......let us know how you get on when they release you.......probably around 2022. 

[fazersharp]

Fair enough but if it is law as protective wear then what about the VAT like in the UK our gear is not classed a s protective wear and so we have to pay VAT, not sure about lids though

[Flooky]

The trouble with laws is they are then set in stone, who wouldn't like to jump on your scooter and head to the beach 1 mile from your camp site with no helmet and no gloves ? just to have a swim or ice cream .
I wouldn't ever ride long distance or fast with no helmet or protective gear but I would like the choice.
If you ride a bike or scooter as if its a car (ie no filtering, wait your turn etc ) you can ride really safely.
I think the more laws the worse it is, choice please.
I have, in the summer nipped up the shops with no helmet just for the badness of doing it and it feels great, you should see the looks you get ! like some bad ass rode into town, when really its the same as no seatbelt (except if your in the back you can hurt someone else with no seatbelt ).try it, but slow....

[fazersharp]

I have, in the summer nipped up the shops with no helmet just for the badness of doing it and it feels great, you should see the looks you get ! like some bad ass rode into town, when really its the same as no seatbelt

Its funny isn't it that doing that you instantly look like a hooligan - antisocial- bet he's got no tax or mot or insurance- looks like he stole it. When like you say its the same as not wearing your seatbelt in terms of the law.

[robbo]

An article in this months Vintage Motorcycle Club book drew my attention to this.

 Apparently France has introduced a new law making it compulsory to wear gloves when riding a motorcycle.

 http://www.motofire.com/2016/09/news/france-forces-bikers-wear-gloves-face-fine/

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with this as I couldn't let myself ride without gloves, although I fully get the personal choice bit. Skin only lasts about a metre when sliding over tarmac at best, so really a no brainer. I like the idea of not paying VAT on bike clothing if it was categorised as "protective clothing" though. Bring it on.
Being an old fart I had the personal choice to wear a crash helmet or not. As I flew over the handlebars of my fast red BSA 250(not a slow green one) in 1964, I had made the wrong choice that morning as I'm sure wearing a helmet would have saved me the bother of a fractured skull. But hey ho we all have to suck up the errors we make. Hindsight being a wonderful thing.
Which leads me on nicely to French crash helmet requirements. Back in the 90's most French riders  full face crash helmets had 4 permanent reflective strips on them and was later made compulsory. Several years ago this was made a requirement to visiting riders to France as well. I don't know anyone who's been nicked for non compliance, the fine being 135 euros, and I didn't bother when I was there last year, but wondered if anyone knows the position now. There was a company in the UK that produced stickers that appeared permanent to police examination, but could be removed once back home. Having said that, most helmet manufacturers have warnings against the addition of stickers, as they could "compromise the integrity of the product" etc.

[BBROWN1664]

IIRC, filtering is illegal in France but very few riders (especially visitors like me) adhere to that rule.
Reflective stickers are meant to be a requirement too but I have not seen anyone with them.
Breathalyser kits are also a mandatory requirement, but the fine for not having them is 0€ so less than the cost of buying the things.

A new one I saw last night is that from January 2017, ALL cars (not sure about bikes yet) must have an emissions sticker to drive in Paris. All cars includes foreign visitors. Big fines if you don't have one. The catch? You need to order them from a French government website that has not English pages, requires a French vehicle registration document reference and can only be delivered (at a price) to a French address.

[Flooky]

Shut up Robbo !  I seen you on that ped in shorts and flip flops.

Oh and a fractured skull would explain a lot !

[fazersharp]

Talking about fractured skulls I got one of them, it was classed as a compound fracture as it was open along with a split eye brow and a fractured depressed cheek bone from being side swiped by a van whilst being on a pushbike. Van driver pissed off but a much nicer one stopped and offered me a lift the the A&E, no need says I- I am fine, have a look in the mirror says he, ---- oh yeh spose I had better get that looked at.
So forget about bikers, push bikers should be made to wear helmets for the very same reason as bikers do. I wore a pushbike helmet after that to stop the headaches ( Mrs Sharp nagging ) but don't see how it would of protected my beautiful face my brain on the other side is not worth saving.

But now on the Fazer ATGATT
       

[mtread]

filtering is illegal in France but very few riders (especially visitors like me) adhere to that rule.

I thought filtering was compulsory in France? Certainly illegal in Germany, and in traffic queues I've had car drivers purposely blocking the 'filtering lane'. On the other hand I have had them trying to overtake me when I'm at 120mph on the autobahn

[robbo]

Riding in Colorado years back, I was unaware of the no filtering rule.Until someone explained that bikers had been known to be shot for carrying out such a move,by pissed off cagers.

[robbo]

Shut up Robbo !  I seen you on that ped in shorts and flip flops.

Oh and a fractured skull would explain a lot !

Maybe, but I'd have had gloves and a crash helmet on.

[joebloggs]

I sometimes take my lid off on deserted back roads, never ride at silly speed as bee's and flies hurt like foc on bare skin.

It would be great to have to freedom of choice but I wouldn't like to see inexperienced riders without at least a helmet.