A new police-led motorcycle campaign is making a personal plea to riders in an effort to encourage them to ‘take a little extra care’ on the roads.
Developed by Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Police and launched ahead of the summer months, ‘Whose world are you?’ delivers the message to bikers that ‘to the world they’re just one person, but to one person they’re the world’.
As part of the campaign, motorcyclists are encouraged to share pictures of themselves with that special person on social media, using the hashtag #WhoseWorldAreYou. It also reminds them of the importance of remaining alert on the road and mindful of their own safety.
On the flip side, it also sets out to make riders ‘more meaningful’ to drivers of other vehicles by demonstrating they are ‘a range of people, with names, personalities and families, just like car drivers’.
Police across the three counties are using the campaign to remind drivers to watch out for bikers, and always look carefully when pulling out of junctions, manoeuvring and changing lanes.
PC Simon Burgin, from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (BCH) Road Policing Unit, said: “Motorcyclists are among the most vulnerable road users and this is why it is so important that they remain alert on the road and mindful of their own safety.
“Last year four motorcyclists were killed and 47 seriously injured on Cambridgeshire roads.
“You can never be too good and I encourage all motorcyclists to continue to train throughout their riding years and not just stop once they have passed their bike test.
“Over the coming weeks, as the weather improves, we expect to see an influx of bikers returning to the roads. Drivers are reminded of the importance of watching out for bikers and to always look carefully when pulling out of junctions, manoeuvring and changing lanes.
“We want the roads to be a safe place for everyone and ask that all road users help us to achieve this.”
Matt Staton, from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership, said: “We are very pleased to support this campaign and encourage people to get involved by sharing their photos on social media.
“We are committed to reducing the number of serious and fatal collisions on the county’s roads and I would urge everyone to play their part by looking out for one another.”
David. You are quite right in what you say. Sometimes motorcyclists are their own worst enemy. Looking at stats 1/3rd of accidents but 2/3rd of serious KSI incidents or collisions occur on rural roads, arterial or unclassified. These mainly do not include contact with other traffic, but other traffic may be contributory. They are in the main on the approach to or at bends and on straights, sometimes with inappropriate overtakes. Inappropriate speed is given in many circumstances together with an inability of the rider to cope with the situation ie inexperience.
Bob Craven Lancs
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This campaign is a two pronged approach, aimed at both motorcyclists and motorists:
“reminds them [motorcyclists] of the importance of remaining alert on the road and mindful of their own safety. On the flip side, it also sets out to make riders ‘more meaningful’ to drivers.
Emma, Peterborough
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Having witnessed some dreadful riding yesterday by quite a few riders, might it be better to direct this campaign towards the motorcyclists who are anything but blameless in the majority of crashes in which one of them is killed, or seriously injured? I make this comment as a motorcyclist myself.
David, Suffolk
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This is a play on the someone’s sister, someone’s brother, someone’s father etc that went out and about for several years a decade ago. So nothing new there just a new play on old campaigns.
I would prefer to make this a two pronged attack and not just focus on car drivers to see bikers, but for bikers to put themselves in a more prominent and visual position rather than hiding behind other vehicles.
It takes two to tango.
Bob Craven Lancs
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