New French Gloves 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/fra...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.