ECF President approves mandatory training for 125

One of the main players in driver training, the president of the French Driving School (ECF), is optimistic about the training of "motomobilists". According to Gerard Acourt, the situation remains worrying for two-wheelers.

At the end of the Sixties, 16,000 French people were killed each year on the road whereas the traffic was 2.5 times less dense than today. Based on this observation, four friends then decided to set up an association under the 1901 law "aiming to promote and develop the pedagogy of driving education".

Founded in 1969, the association "Driving School of France" was supplemented in 1985 by a public limited company under the sweet name of SPOGEC, able to develop the lucrative activities of schools. Thus, 37 years later, the ECF group consists of 1,180 training centers including 600 branches, representing a turnover of 120 million euros for the 2005 financial year..

This turnover, communicated for the very first time by the organization, is "steadily increasing for several years", assures Gerard Acourt, one of the founders and president of the ECF:"for 2006, ECF expects again a constant increase of 10%".

Asked by Moto-Net, he is just as optimistic about the 125 cc market, access to which by the new B licenses will now be through a mandatory three-hour training (read).

"This training should not slow down the market because it is inexpensive and not very restrictive. We can even imagine that since access to the 125 is better organized, this will reassure motorists", predicts the boss of ECF.

As for motorcycle schools, according to him they will be quite competent: "we have teaching methods adapted to different displacements but also to different drivers", assures Gerard Acourt, well aware that driving a 125 is not approached in the same way for a 16 year old scooter enthusiast as for a 40 year old motorist.

Regarding the 2006 road safety report, the President of ECF regrets that the progress made by two-wheelers "are less obvious than those of other users". According to him, the situation is"all the more worrying as they are very young drivers"…

A strange finding insofar as according to provisional road safety figures (read), the number of bikers killed in 2006 is down 12.5%…

Related articles

• Road safety – Hidden radars, fluorescent vest and large plates for motorcycles – Removal of radar signs, prohibited speed camera warnings, fluorescent vest, training after 5 years and large plates for motorcycles …

  Hidden radars, fluorescent vest and large plates for motorcycles The Interministerial Road Safety Committee (IRB) held this morning in Paris is going up…

• Motorcycle license – Details of the new compulsory training for the 125 – Gerard Acourt, president of ECF: a 3-hour training course is very insufficient

  Details of the new mandatory training for the 125 In a decree of November 27 published in the Official Journal this morning, the Ministry of Transport…

• Road safety – Motorcycle gloves could quickly become mandatory –

  Motorcycle gloves could quickly become mandatory In a very well-documented report on the safety of users of motorized two-wheelers, Prefect Regis Guyot…

• Road safety – Hidden radars, fluorescent vests and large plates for motorcycles – All the measures taken by the Interministerial Road Safety Committee meeting in Paris on May 11, 2011

  Hidden radars, fluorescent vest and large plates for motorcycles The Interministerial Road Safety Committee (IRB) held this morning in Paris is going up…

• Road safety – Awareness campaign on motorized two-wheelers –

  Motorized two-wheeler awareness campaign In order to reinforce a reduction in mortality from motorized two- wheelers deemed too low, Road Safety is today…

• Road safety – Reminder: breathalyzer mandatory from July 1, 2012 –

  Reminder: breathalyzer mandatory from July 1, 2012 A little reminder: from Sunday, July 1, 2012, Decree No. 2012-284 comes into effect and makes the…

• Road safety – Mandatory possession of the yellow vest for bikers in 2016 –

  Mandatory possession of the yellow vest for bikers in 2016 Like motorists, motorcyclists and scooter riders must be in possession of a retro-reflective…

• Road safety – The government does not rule out the mandatory yellow vest … –

  The government does not rule out the mandatory yellow vest… Questioned last year by the UMP deputy of Isère Jacques Remiller, the government has just…

• Road safety – Yellow vest and A2 license mandatory, retrofit pending: bikers toast in 2016! –

  Yellow vest and A2 license mandatory, retrofit pending: bikers toast in 2016 ! Since January 1, motorcycles over 106 hp can finally circulate freely in…

• Road safety – Compulsory technical control … for cyclists! –

  Compulsory technical control … for cyclists ! François Fillon chaired this morning an Interministerial Road Safety Committee (IRB) which resulted in 14…