Faced with delays in the adoption of a new testing standard for road restraint systems, FEMA supports CEN's work by launching a pan-European call for testimonies gathering personal stories and reports of motorcyclists injured in crash barrier collisions.

Testimonies can be sent online at:
http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=guardrails

During its last meeting in June, CEN's technical committee on road equipment postponed the adoption of a new draft standard for road restraint systems, which could provide additional protection for motorcyclists. Members of the European standards agency technical committee TC226 are still discussing the details of the draft, which is based on the existing Spanish standard.

FEMA has been campaigning for safer road restraint systems for the last 20 years, and expects the new standard to be adopted before next summer. Since 2007, FEMA has been granted liaison status with CEN, which is officially recognised as the European standards organisation by the European Union.

Most road restrain systems consist of a simple metal rail, and while this design offers acceptable energy absorption properties for four-wheeled vehicle crashes, exposed support beams at ground level can cause major and lethal injuries to motorcyclists falling and sliding on the road.

Unfortunately, police and emergency services records across Europe rarely give accurate data on guardrails-related casualties: detailed information is missing as cases are rarely identified and reported as such. Faced with this situation, it is essential to gather as much information as possible to get an accurate view of typical accident configurations, in order to elaborate a safe and adapted test standard for future barriers.

In order to show its commitment to support CEN's work, FEMA has decided to launch a wide European campaign, gathering individual testimonies from riders and relatives describing injuries suffered while hitting guardrails. It consists of a 21-question survey open to all, available online in English, Spanish, German, Italian and French. Participants are invited to give as much detail as possible about the accident they are reporting, in order to allow the creation of a comprehensive database of user cases. The survey is available on FEMA's website at http://www.fema-online.eu/index.php?page=guardrails.

- Have you personally experienced a motorcycle accident involving a crash barrier?

- Can you provide a personal testimony on an accident where a motorcyclist collided with a crash barrier?

Then you can help FEMA assess the risk crash barriers represent for all riders in Europe. By filling in this questionnaire, you are bringing us important data on accident cases.

FEMA hopes the testimonies gathered through this survey will prove useful to CEN in its efforts to make roads safer for all categories of users. The next CEN TC266 sub committee (TG1) meeting is expected to take place sometime in September. Adoption of the draft standard at this stage would open the way to full implementation, hopefully by early 2010.