Spain bans motorcycles from the Pyrenees

Photo Adria Sanchez Roque / Unsplash

Spain’s Natural Park of the High Pyrenees has banned all internal combustion-powered “motorcycles, quads, ATVs, and non-electric buggies all year round for noise protection reasons.”

A massive 80,000 hectares is impacted by the restrictions, but the rules currently don’t exclude cars, sparking outrage from Spanish riders. Advocacy Group Moto de Campo Sostenible accuses the park’s management of “unjustified discrimination” and says that the noise thresholds should be established that apply to all vehicles.

Were that to happen, which does seem pretty reasonable, then drivers of cars with rorty exhausts would also be banned from the region’s amazing mountain roads as well.

The park claims that the ban is part of a study to “better assess the importance of acoustic quality for the conservation of ecosystems and to understand how noise affects biodiversity.”

On the plus side riders of electric bikes will be served by more charging points to encourage emissions-free, quiet two-wheeling in the mountains.

Drivers and riders of combustion vehicles are facing more and more restrictions, not just in cities, but the great outdoors as well, with Italy’s Dolomite region declaring a Low Emissions Zone, for example.

Looks like we’ll be taking even more EV Detours in the future.

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