A safety campaign has been launched as the Isle of Man gears up to host the 2014 Festival of Motorcycling which gets underway on 16 August.
The campaign – a joint initiative between the Department of Infrastructure and the Isle of Man Constabulary – continues the themes highlighted during the 2014 TT, using the slogan ‘Don’t bin it. For everyone’s sake slow down’.
Several thousand visitors are expected to travel to the Island for the Festival, resulting in a big increase in the volume of traffic on local roads. The campaign encourages visiting and local bikers to respect the Manx roads, keep their speeds down and ride within their capabilities.
‘Don’t bin it’ is a play on the phrase used by bikers to refer to crashing and the campaign posters feature an image of a motorcycle in a wheelie bin.
John Houghton MHK, member of the Department of Infrastructure with responsibility for highway services, said: “We want locals and visitors alike to enjoy everything the Isle of Man and the Festival of Motorsport has to offer. The safety campaign encourages people to behave responsibly, ride to the conditions and show respect for other road users.
“The race fortnight is a busy period and we hope everyone will heed the campaign message and go home with fond memories of their time in the Isle of Man.”
The Isle of Man Constabulary will once again have a strong presence during the Festival of Motorcycling, with unmarked police cars and motorcycles on patrol.
It is not merely the ability to change direction swiftly, or the lack thereof, that separates ordinary riders from their TT heroes. Most riders are simply unable to correctly process the incoming information when riding at speed because they have not had the sustained practice of a TT star.
David, Suffolk
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Looking back on this year’s TT I was watching how the machines, which are prepared specially for the TTs, how they reacted to the various dangers that the road presented. It was obvious from my observations and previous comments that cambers, especially adverse ones on bends and all painted white lines, had an obvious effect on the stability of the bikes between the front end and the back end that constantly needed correcting.
As previously mentioned most riders are extremely experienced at these speeds and road conditions and handling on the bikes. Something that the general riding public are not, though no doubt believe that they are. A dangerous state of mind.
bob craven Lancs
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It doesn’t help either, when the ordinary road rider sees and is no doubt influenced by the sight of TT riders doing their thing on everyday highways (with the apparent approval of the authorities) and not purpose-built race tracks, which is where competitive riding belongs and where it should stay.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
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What differentiates a TT rider from an ordinary road rider is that the TT rider can change the bike’s direction of travel much quicker than the road rider can. Road riders can go fast, TT riders can go fast, but without that key ability the road rider is eventually going to end up in a sticky heap somewhere. Of course the faster you go the more difficult changing direction becomes and the more skill is required to do it. That skill is what separates the TT riding gods from the ordinary folk that try to emulate them.
Duncan MacKillop, Stratford on Avon
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What a lot of bikers fail to recognise as dangerous is taking the racing line on a normal road. Many may have track experience but a track has usually a positive camber or super elevation with no high painted white lines. A road has sometimes steep cambers particularly on bends to allow water to drain away and painted white lines that could be over 6 mm high. At speed a combination of these factors on bends where the racing lines requires both positive and adverse cambers to be used can cause the rear end to break away and contribute to an incident. Having cold tyres or under inflated tyres, as some do, doesn’t help as they will not heat up sufficiently to work as effective as they should.
bob craven Lancs
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A Manx cat has nine lives and no tail! A Manx motorcyclist has one life and far too many tales! SLOW DOWN!
Gareth Surrey
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