By Andrea Dell’Orto, President of Confindustria ANCMA and EICMA S.p.A.
Once it was just for passion. Today, it’s also a faster, cheaper, and less pollutant mean of transport to speed up commuting time, switch up your route, move through traffic jams and optimize drive times. Motorbikes –and scooters as well are not just a symbol of freedom, but benefits of commuting on a motorcycle far exceed those of driving a car. Even though it should be recalled that bikers are still vulnerable road users that are at greater risk to bear the greatest burden of injury. Relevant industries are working –maybe slightly too late- to increase motorcycle safety through the use of emergency call functions, on the basis of existing European law whose aim is to reduce the number of accidents involving two-wheelers. Motorcycle-oriented technology has always had –and still has– a radically different approach in comparison to those dedicated to the world of four wheel vehicles. ABS, for instance, has been adopted in recent times by the motorcycle industry. Now that technologies have arrived to maturity, the goal should be to encourage the widespread use of telematic devices to route the event (theft, collision, mechanical failure) automatically to emergency units, same as for cars. Viasat ‘Slim Box Moto’ has been on the market for some years now; our small-sized satellite system includes all the features and peculiarities of a highly advanced “insurance Black Box”. SlimBox Moto is a user-friendly control-unit plug that can be easily retrofitted. Its GPS and GSM/GPRS technology sends the location and routes emergency units via Viasat appS for fast professional/medical help 24/7. As an incentive to driving with safety features, insurance providers apply discount for having them on your vehicle. According to ANCMA (Industry Italian National association), users can have an up to 25% discount on their rates, with a high of 200 euro for scooters and 350 for cars.