Motorcycle Live #Bikesafe initiative

Officers from the force’s Road Policing Unit (RPU) will be attending Motorcycle Live to support the #BikeSafe initiative.

The event will be held at the NEC Birmingham on Sunday 12 December and RPU officers will be assisting the UK’s number one police-led motorcycle safety initiative, on the BikeSafe stand.

#BikeSafe aims to provide motorcyclists with specialist post-test training to increase motor safety. Workshops involve a classroom element, which aims to cover cornering, overtaking, filtering, junctions, hazard awareness and the wider system of motorcycle control. Followed by an assessed ride with an Advanced Police Motorcyclist, covering a variety of elements on A & B roads, as well as some Motorway sections.

On average, there are over 60 serious motorcycle-related road traffic collisions every day in the UK. Usually, one or more of these will result in a fatality. Motorcyclists account for 0.8 % of traffic, but are involved in 25 % of KSI collisions in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent.

PC Andy Lloyd, of the RPU, said: “This initiative is a key method in addressing statistics, which involve road traffic collisions in Staffordshire. We understand that a very prominent cause of motorcycle accidents stem from rider error, which is why we are pushing for further training and awareness with bike safety. Working with partner agencies such as Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership, Biker Down and Doc Bike Staffordshire and attending local biker meets to engage and educate motorcyclists, signposting them to further training, such as Bike Sense, IAM and Rospa.

There are 36 police forces in the UK who are part of #BikeSafe, where we have collectively delivered over 5,000 national workshops, contributing over 240,000 hours into rider education.”