A speaker at the inaugural Young Rider Focus conference will challenge road safety officers to place more emphasis on the safety of young powered two wheeler riders.
Organised by Road Safety GB and FirstBike, and the team behind the established and well-attended Young Driver Focus conference, Young Rider Focus will be held in Birmingham on 6 March 2019.
The event was conceived following a survey among road safety professionals which confirmed an appetite for a conference focusing on the key issues faced by 16-25 year-old P2W riders.
The conference committee is in the early stages of planning the programme, with five confirmed speakers to date – one of whom is Kevin Wilcox, road safety officer at Staffordshire County Council.
Since joining Staffordshire’s road safety team in 2004, Kevin has introduced many successful motorcycle-related initiatives.
He project managed a £850k DfT motorcycle project in 2009-2011 and received the Prince Michael Award for International Road Safety in 2010 on behalf of Staffordshire County Council for its Motorcycle Road Safety Strategy.
In recent years Kevin has focused more on young rider safety, introducing many new schemes targeting young rider casualty reduction.
Kevin’s presentation will question why the default for most road safety professionals is to focus on young drivers aged 16-25 years, with little thought given to young riders.
He will delve into analysis, both locally and nationally, to suggest that many are focusing too much on the wrong target audience and should be concentrating on reducing young rider casualties.
Young Rider Focus
Delegate registration for Young Rider Focus is now open – with tickets priced at £125 for Road Safety GB/Academy members, £150 for attendees from public sector, third sector, academia and ADIs, and £175 (all prices plus VAT) for all other attendees.
In addition, there is the option to purchase a joint ticket covering Young Rider Focus and Young Driver Focus 2019, which takes place at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London on 1 May 2019.
Click here to register to attend or alternatively for more information contact Sally Bartrum (delegate registration) or Nick Rawlings (conference agenda) on 01379 650112.
For more information about sponsoring and/or exhibiting at the event contact either Richard Storrs on 08451 308 853 or Rachael Butler on 07974 186445.
Yes we do David. I have been saying just that for many years. We are concentrating too late on training motorcyclists to behave properly or ride with responsibility. It’s a bit late training a rider of numerous years experience to be able to take bends faster or overtake more if out on our faster country roads [and apparently safer?] – when we should be concentrating on the 125 cc or bikes of less capacity. Riders who are are at greater risk on our roads and cities. One of the most vulnerable groups on the road.
In the national papers this last weekend it was shown that according to figures for 2017 there were some 180.000 new moped riders now on our town and city roads, generally as delivery boys. They are basically untrained with just a CBT to their name and no further training being required of them for 2 years and then they may merely take the CBT again. That is a scandal and just making not only their safety but the safety of and all other road users at risk.
R.Craven
+1
Lots of groups (I am thinking mainly of Police & Fire Services) are only too keen to get involved with the sexy, high-powered end of bike safety with BikeSafe and other initiatives. Very few people want to ride around on 125s with spotty kids, trying to get them to see the error of their ways. We do need to rethink the way we deal with this group of riders.
David Daw, Bury St. Edmunds
+1
Yes I know Bob.. perhaps I was being too subtle with my opening few words – the hardcore can’t and won’t be told – for these, removal from the roads seems to be the only answer. An occasional contributor has alluded once or twice to the Darwin Award as applicable to certain road users and for as long as individuals continue to self-nominate for this ‘award’ by their behaviour, the problems will continue.
Hugh Jones
--2
Hugh, you will never get to the hardcore of riders or drivers. Those that will never respond to any intervention no matter how safe it will make them, they just don’t care. It’s the same with tailgating, if some 30/40% of driver regularly tailgate it’s probably or possibly the case that they do it inadvertently and without any knowledge of what they are doing is dangerous or unlawful ie. they lack knowledge of road safety.
After all, ADIs do teach pupils the rudimentary rules of the road but mainly road safety is ancillary and they concentrate on getting over a particularly required skill, sufficient in which to pass a test, rather than teach all about road safety in general.
The 3 E’s or rather 4 E’s have to come into play. Contrary to popular belief we do learn from educations, from teaching, from experience and observation either by ourselves or from that of others, otherwise we would still be living in caves. So that is a first and necessary objective to teach them young and by that I don’t mean at 5 years of age but with regards to motorcyclists to catch them in their first year or years and give them some education and formal training together with the other E’s.
The old saying a stitch in time saves nine and that is so true of many circumstances in life. If only we knew or if only someone would have told us is the cry or plea. Let’s tell them, let’s show them a better and safer way to ride, lets change their attitude whilst we still can before the rot sets in and they become hardened adults reluctant or reticent to change. If we don’t there will still be carnage our roads and who will be responsible for it… we will be the persons responsible for it.
Unless we all do something in concert, sing from the same hymn book then nothing is going to change. It’s not.
R.Craven
+1
Good luck with trying to persuade bikers not to ride so fast on machines which are capable of going faster than anything else on the road and which have no protection for the rider.
This morning I saw a biker accelerate up to 40-50 mph on a residential road – how does that person get persuaded not to do so in future? Educating bikers on how to ride defensively and not to be victims is one thing, but trying to save them from their own foolishness is another. (Same goes for four-wheeled motorists obviously, but this article is about two-wheeled users)
Hugh Jones
--5