IAM RoadSmart says motorcyclists who have taken its advanced rider course have safer attitudes on the roads and are involved in fewer collisions.
A survey of nearly 1,300 riders – split evenly between IAM RoadSmart members and non-advanced qualified motorcyclists – found those who had completed the course had a lower rate of collision involvement per mile.
IAM RoadSmart riders covered, on average, 15,000 miles incident-free compared to non-IAM RoadSmart riders who had a collision, on average, every 9,400 miles.
The survey also suggests that advanced riders are more aware of the limitations of other drivers and riders – and were therefore more likely to show consideration for their fellow road users.
Other findings revealed advanced riders are less likely to speed in residential areas where the speed limits are less than 40mph, and are less likely to approach bends as quickly as other riders.
Neil Greig, policy and research director at IAM RoadSmart, said: “The results of this study are reassuring. Road safety is paramount, and it is great to see that our members are some of the safest road users out there.”
To follow up on Bob’s point, my personal experience tells me that insurance companies may be unwilling to discuss this with members of the public (such as myself) however I believe they’d be willing to speak to people who are in the road safety community (such as the editors of this website)
David Weston, Newcastle upon Tyne
+2
I would like to hear from some of the insurers that give advanced riders a discount and just see if they would agree or not.
Bob Craven
+4
was assessment done before and after the course? i.e. did it establish that it was the training that changed attitudes to before the course, or that the kind of people who voluntarily sign up for extra training are also the kind of people who already have safer attitudes? I’ve read that insurers used to give a small premium reduction to drivers who did passPlus. Not because pass plus made them lower risk but because the subset of people who choose to do it are lower risk. in both cases the training may be useful and informative, but we need to ensure we not attributing all differential to training, when it may be an indicator that they are already lower risk.
Kate Carpenter, BEDFORD
+10
This is where investment should go if you want to reduce RTCs, not impose widespread 20mph limits everywhere and drop 60 to 50 for no good reason, put solid white lines for miles on country roads so you are blocked by a one gear fits all driver with their foot stamped over the brake pedal to warn you off from half a mile away where just a little fart would be enough to propel you past them.
Philip Green, Chesterfield
+30