The Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership has unveiled two initiatives in a bid to reduce crashes and casualties involving motorcyclists in the county.
A new free safety magazine for motorcyclists, Ride Smart, will be launched on Easter Sunday and the partnership is also providing funding for ‘Operation Focus’ by Derbyshire police which will commence on Good Friday.
Copies of Ride Smart will be available at the partnership’s Easter Sunday Motorcycle Meet in Matlock. Riders dropping by will be able to pick up a copy of the magazine and learn about Derbyshire BikeSafe workshops and CBT Plus training.
Andy Adlington, the partnership’s motorcycle safety officer, said: “Ride Smart has something for every motorcyclist in Derbyshire – it doesn’t matter where you ride, when you ride or what you ride.
“We’ve got great features on taking care of your bike, riding gear, group riding and first aid. There’s also a wealth of advice about staying safe on the roads.
“Riding in the countryside demands a different set of survival skills to riding in town so we’ve included in-depth features on rural and urban riding techniques.”
During the leisure biking season, Derbyshire police will be making their presence felt on the countryside roads where bikers are regularly getting killed or hurt.
Operation Focus will launch on Good Friday and run on weekends and selected evenings until September. During that time, marked and unmarked vehicles will carry out speed detection and patrols on routes with high casualty figures.
Chief inspector Tracy Lewis, head of roads policing in Derbyshire, said: “Comparatively speaking, riders make up the largest proportion of those killed or seriously injured on Derbyshire roads because there are far fewer motorcycles on our roads than there are cars.
“During Operation Focus, we will be speaking with riders about the dangers of speeding and will take enforcement action in the more serious cases.
“Derbyshire police are keen to ensure our roads are as safe as possible and the Ride Smart magazine will be really helpful to all riders, even those that are more experienced.”
For more information about Ride Smart magazine contact Andy Adlington on 07827 308480 or 01629 538067.
I wish them well. Tho its understood that Derbyshire gets a lot of visitors from elsewhere who may not be caught up in their efforts. It appears that since the Cat and Fiddle road became the main focus of a lot of attention and almost one million pounds spent on slowing traffic down. It seems to be little used nowadays just like the public house that serviced the bikers’ needs.
bob craven Lancs
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