police cars are parked at the two bays on highway 2 near lindenhof (municipality of igensdorf). Traffic automatically slows down. The two policemen are already waving their ladles. Your stop signals here at the border of the counties of forchheim and erlangen-hochstadt and the administrative districts of upper and central franconia are for motorcyclists. The safety check at lindenhof is the start of the bavaria-wide traffic safety program "bayern mobil, sicher ans ziel" ("bavaria mobile, safe to the destination").
"Every year there is a specific safety aspect to this, this year it is motorcycle safety", alexandra federl, press officer of the police headquarters of central franconia, explains. The topic was not chosen without reason, as the number of fatal motorcycle accidents had doubled in the area of responsibility from 2016 to 2017, with 20 accidental deaths.
For 2018 no numbers can be given yet. According to current statistics, the number of accident fatalities has dropped again. A positive message, which is not least due to such safety checks.
controls throughout july
this is how motorcyclists are checked throughout july. "Driver’s license and vehicle registration please", says the officer to one of the three young motorcyclists. "I’m used to it, but I can stay calm because everything is fine with my motorcycle," says the officer to one of the three, says 18-year-old pascal as his friend’s plane is undergoing security checks. The police officer finds the cover and the reflectors missing. This leads to a hazard, and the young man, who is on his way to nuremberg with his boyfriend and a girlfriend, has to put things right. The operating license now expires with this control.
And a look at the green tuv sticker shows that this examination will also be due. they are still allowed to drive on. "These are individual case decisions", says alexandra federl. Of course, safety comes first, but in the case of less serious deficiencies, those affected are still allowed to ride home if the distance is not too great.
On the way home from work
the motorcyclist who was asked to drive into the roadside bay coming from nuremberg in the direction of grafenberg will also lose his operating permit. The exhaust on his motorcycle is simply too loud. The built-in exhaust is allowed, but it burns out and then gets louder and louder. "I knew the exhaust was getting louder, but I didn’t know it could be in the second year", explains the young man who was driving home from work to grafenberg.
"Normally he would have to leave the motorcycle here. With the requirement to drive slowly and not to rev up, he is allowed to drive on to his place of residence", says christoph reh, police officer at the erlangen-land inspectorate in uttenreuth. The rider now has two options: either he has the exhaust adjusted, has the value checked by the TuV and presents the result to the next police inspection, or he installs the original exhaust again.
90 euro fine
the fine is in any case 90 euros plus fees and expenses. depending on the decision of the driver the tuv costs are added. If he does not comply with the requirement to leave the motorcycle in the garage until then, and he would be checked again, the fine doubles.
Exhaust often too loud
with most motorcycles the noise level is to be criticized. "This is the easiest to prove, because this exhaust is without electronics", says christoph reh. For the motorcycles with hidden switch or remote control it will be more difficult. this is often the case with harley-davidsons. these drive quietly when the flap is closed on the exhaust. The flap, however, is controlled by the engine and can be opened again after the check has been made.
An exhaust with electronics costs 2000 euros upwards. Some also have a mechanical system in the exhaust, which means that the flap is always open and the sound of the machine is correspondingly loud.
The decibel killer
in some machines, the decibel killer (DB killer) has been removed. This DB-killer causes the machine to become quieter. This is not the case with the young man’s motorcycle. the inner pipe would otherwise be missing, explains reh, while shortly after the "kellerhauskurve" – the 90-degree bend before the entrance to the town of forth – a quad turns around when the rider spies the police checkpoint. but he does not get away, even an alkomat is requested. Fortunately, the driver was not drunk, he was "only" driving with his tires off, but this also leads to a fine being levied.
Meanwhile, the police wave out more motorcyclists. In the two and a half hours, a total of 50 motorcycles were checked. Nine of them were criticized, and five of them lost their operating licenses. All in all, from the point of view of the police officers, the security control was positive.