| Written by CMG Staff on Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
The Quadrift asks the eternal question: How many wheels is too many?
Their proposal may seem like an oxymoron, but the Quebec
firm CMI-Cectek suggests that including four wheels in Transport Canada's
description of motorcycles makes all-round sense.
The company wants to bring out a four-wheeled "motorcycle"
for road use, but Transport Canada's definition of motorcycles does not allow
four wheels.
"We are asking that the definition of motorcycle in
Section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulation be amended to include
four-wheel motorcycles," said Hélène Binet, vice-president of CMI-Cectek.
"We made this formal request to the government in July 2009." But
Transport Canada seems not to like the idea.
In fact, the Quebec company accuses Transport Canada of
distorting their request by proposing two options: creating a new class of
motor vehicle for the road, which would result in different standards being
applied to the vehicle than are currently used for motorcycles; and classifying
this vehicle as an ATV, which is not allowed on most Canadian roads.
"Our four-wheel motorcycle is not an ATV, or a golf cart,
or a low-speed vehicle. It's a motorcycle! It travels on public roads in Europe and is perfectly safe. Do Europeans care less
about safety than Canadians? Let Canadians choose," Binet
said.
The CMI-Cectek four-wheeler, the "500EFI Quadrift," is powered by a liquid-cooled,
fuel-injected 500 cc motor, uses an automatic transmission, and can reach 130
km/h.
Transport Canada has opened a public consultation about this, but it closes
on June 11. CMI-Cectek wants the public to get involved. "We have only 30 days
to persuade Transport Canada of our case. We
will accordingly be very grateful if you make your comments known to Transport Canada as soon as possible in its period of
consultations on this regulatory question."
Want to help stir the waters? Go to cectekcanada.com/en/vote.html to vote for four-wheels-as-motorcycle, or to cectekcanada to see more about this vehicle.
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