Bikers in North Yorkshire are being asked, “Are you as safe as you think?” following the launch of the county’s 2015 motorcycle safety campaign on 18 March.
95 Alive, North Yorkshire’s road safety partnership, says that while the number of deaths and serious injuries involving motorcyclists dropped last year (from 139 in 2013, to 130 in 2014), the overall number of casualties increased (from 338 in 2013, to 352 in 2014).
The partnership also says that while many bikers believe that car drivers are responsible for most biker injuries, its research shows that in fact motorcyclist error is the main factor in more than 70% of incidents on rural roads.
As part of this year’s campaign, 95 Alive is attending events across the county to provide motorcyclists with information about danger ‘blackspots’.
North Yorkshire Police is also promoting its summer programme of BikeSafe sessions through which bikers take part in an observed ride, with police motorcyclists giving feedback on the rider’s strengths and weaknesses and offering tips to improve skills.
Deputy chief constable Tim Madgwick, chairman of 95 Alive, said: “No one likes to have their skills challenged but some riders do overrate their abilities on a bike, and the mindset that ‘nothing will ever happen to me’ can, and does, lead to accidents – particularly on bends, when overtaking or when braking.
“We’re encouraging motorcyclists to really question how they ride, and to sign up for post-test training to hone their skills, improve their biking experience, and reduce the risk of rider error.”
The materials can also be downloaded from www.roadwise.co.uk/bikers
This is one of the sites that I like. Plenty of info and proactive work being done. However, and unfortunately, N.Yorks does suffer on certain roads. I know that many would argue that there is no such a thing as a dangerous road but there are roads throughout the UK where due to location, length, environment, engineering, maintenance, road surface, weather, popularity etc. become a mecca for motorcyclists, many of whom are doing things they shouldn’t do like ride too fast for the conditions just to name one.
Its a hard statistic to believe that 70% of riders are the author of their own demise but it is true. Whilst 70% of accidents occur in urban areas and therefore only 30% in rural ones, the rural ones are usually high speed with greater and more serious injuries and occur with bends and overtakes being the main locations. These accidents usually do not include another driver/rider.
The authorities have done a lot of proactive work and I hope that they will continue to reduce the KSIs and other motorcycle incidents on their patch.
Bob CravenLancs…Space is Safe Campaigner
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