Safety courses/campaigns in the UK

[Cloggy]

There are now bikerdown courses in South Yorkshire. These FREE 2 hour courses are "aimed at providing all motorbike and scooter riders who live or ride in the county with basic first-aid skills and awareness of 'road traffic collision' management"
Here's the link

These courses are also being run in some other counties as well. Our very own The Spin doctor helped out setting up the first courses in Kent.

 

[lytehouse]

Re: Bikerdown now in South Yorkshire

Whew! I'm glad this isn't what I thought it was going to be
I love the fact they even offer this, very cool.

 

[Motogiro]

Re: Bikerdown now in South Yorkshire

This is a great course that should be taught everywhere.

When a person is down it is very important to keep any additional incident from happening to you and others and get immediate help.

 

[iviyth0s]

Re: Bikerdown now in South Yorkshire

Whew! I'm glad this isn't what I thought it was going to be
I love the fact they even offer this, very cool.

+1, the thread title was a little misleading I expected a horror story!! hew:

I would take this if it were around here!

 

[Cloggy]

Re: Bikerdown now in South Yorkshire

Whew! I'm glad this isn't what I thought it was going to be
I love the fact they even offer this, very cool.

+1, the thread title was a little misleading I expected a horror story!! hew:

I would take this if it were around here!

Sorry guys, didn't mean to mislead anyone, changed the title now :thumbup:
The courses are run by volunteers, I take my hat off to anyone giving their free time to help other bikers :bow:

 

[lytehouse]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

I would take this if it were around here!

I would too....

The courses are run by volunteers, I take my hat off to anyone giving their free time to help other bikers :bow:

And I'd even pay to take a course like this. Have you taken it Martin?

 

[Cloggy]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

And I'd even pay to take a course like this. Have you taken it Martin?

No, but i sure would if it was anywhere near here. I actually followed kevin (spin doctor) and a few of his friends on another forum as they were getting this off the ground in the kent area. Since then it's been catching on in more area's of the UK, for example in south Wales, Oxford and now south Yorkshire. Hopefully it will be in a cinema (well a fire department) near you soon:thumbup: oops I forgot it's only in the UK uptil now,well I hope it makes it across the pond , in both directions:thumbup:

 

[yourebarred]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

Free course if you work, study or live in Lambeth, London too. Bike Safe training day with Met Police..

 

[nivag]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

Free course if you work, study or live in Lambeth, London too. Bike Safe training day with Met Police..

Even if it ain't free it's well worth the money!
Though Lambeth paid for mine

 

[yourebarred]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

Just got my free code from Lambeth, now need to find a day free grrr

 

[Cloggy]

Re: FREE Bikerdown course now in South Yorkshire

looking at this article in MCN it looks like London will be trying to reduce motorbike accidents in London General News | Motorcycle News | Bike News | Motorbike Videos | MCN

Just hope this includes educating the car drivers as well .

 

[tejkowskit]

This is awesome! Good on you, UK.

 

[Cloggy]

On this website you can click on your region and you can see the safety courses in your area, some are free and some not. Thanks to the Spindoctor for the link.

 

[The Spin Doctor]

Thanks for highlighting the Biker Down courses, Martin

As Martin explained, they were started by Kent Fire and Rescue, and my own post-test rider training company www.survivalskills.co.uk was asked to get involved on a volunteer basis. The module I deliver is entitled 'The Science of Being Seen'. It's based on an extensive review of the scientific research on the issue (and believe me, there has been a LOT!) and tackles the often-controversial area of why bikes that should be in plain view aren't seen, and why hi-vis clothing and day riding lights don't always work in the way that users anticipate they will. I sum up by offering some suggestions into ways that riders can try to improve their chances of not being seen and avoiding junction collisions.

We deliver between one and two courses a month, to groups of 10-30 riders. The three modules are an Accident Management module, to help riders deal with the scene of a crash (and not to become involved themselves), and the First Aid module which covers the likely consequences of a motorcycle crash and how to remove a helmet safely if the rider isn't breathing. As the course has been running since 2011, it's been delivered to well over 1000 riders here in Kent. As stated, it's free to attend, and it's not restricted to riders in Kent, we've had groups from London, Surrey, Sussex and Essex all travel to visit.

We were awarded an International Prince Michael of Kent Road Safety Award in the motorcycle category in December 2012, and we've also won an insurance industry road safety award.

‘BIKER DOWN’ WINS PRINCE MICHAEL ROAD SAFETY AWARD | MIND over MOTORCYCLE

The course has been picked up by around a dozen Fire and Rescue Services in the UK and information packs have also been sent to a number of foreign fire departments too. Why not contact your own fire department, wherever you are and see if you can persuade them to run something similar?

 

[Cloggy]

Thanks for highlighting the Biker Down courses, Martin

As Martin explained, they were started by Kent Fire and Rescue, and my own post-test rider training company www.survivalskills.co.uk was asked to get involved on a volunteer basis. The module I deliver is entitled 'The Science of Being Seen'. It's based on an extensive review of the scientific research on the issue (and believe me, there has been a LOT!) and tackles the often-controversial area of why bikes that should be in plain view aren't seen, and why hi-vis clothing and day riding lights don't always work in the way that users anticipate they will. I sum up by offering some suggestions into ways that riders can try to improve their chances of not being seen and avoiding junction collisions.

We deliver between one and two courses a month, to groups of 10-30 riders. The three modules are an Accident Management module, to help riders deal with the scene of a crash (and not to become involved themselves), and the First Aid module which covers the likely consequences of a motorcycle crash and how to remove a helmet safely if the rider isn't breathing. As the course has been running since 2011, it's been delivered to well over 1000 riders here in Kent. As stated, it's free to attend, and it's not restricted to riders in Kent, we've had groups from London, Surrey, Sussex and Essex all travel to visit.

We were awarded an International Prince Michael of Kent Road Safety Award in the motorcycle category in December 2012, and we've also won an insurance industry road safety award.

‘BIKER DOWN’ WINS PRINCE MICHAEL ROAD SAFETY AWARD | MIND over MOTORCYCLE

The course has been picked up by around a dozen Fire and Rescue Services in the UK and information packs have also been sent to a number of foreign fire departments too. Why not contact your own fire department, wherever you are and see if you can persuade them to run something similar?

A big thanks for explaining the courses Kevin, itś great to hear that so many places are taking this up, and a big thanks for putting your free time into this great project to improve biker awareness and safety :bow:

 

[The Spin Doctor]

No worries - the plan is to keep the courses going as long as there's funding. Here's a link to the Biker Down UK Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/bikerdownuk

 

[Cloggy]

The government has launched a new "think" radio campaign aimed mainly at car drivers encouraging them to look out for bikes on junctions, apparently approximately half of riders killed are at junctions in the UK.

Here's the website

Here's the story:

A THINK! radio campaign has been launched to encourage drivers to take longer to look for motorcyclists.

According to Road Safety Minister Robert Goodwill, figures reveal that 30 bikers are killed or injured every day at junctions.

The ‘Didn’t see’ campaign will run for four weeks on national radio and feature three chilling audio clips of a son, daughter, and husband’s death due to inattentive driving.

Robert Goodwill said: ‘Every day more than 30 motorcycle riders die or are injured in accidents at road junctions. Often, though, not always, this is because a driver has pulled out in front of a rider.

‘More than two people lose their lives every week in this way and this is something we are determined to change - if all drivers and riders took a bit more care at junctions we could bring this figure down significantly.’

Research undertaken by THINK! shows that drivers believe the majority of motorcycle accidents happen because of bikers speeding. However, statistics show that half of motorcyclist accidents, where the rider is killed or seriously hurt, occur at junctions, with drivers failing to look properly being the most common cause.

Despite making up just 1% of traffic on the road, motorcyclists account for 19% of all fatalities.

To further help improve road safety, THINK! will be launching a new campaign this summer encouraging motorcyclists to undertake further training and ride more defensively

 

[The Spin Doctor]

And the depressing fact is that it won't change a thing, because it doesn't attempt to understand junction collisions. What does "failing to look properly" actually mean? We've a pretty good idea, having extensively researched the problem for our 'conspicuity' talk for Biker Down.

Urban collisions mean relatively low speeds. That means at the distance a rider can stop, the bike is in plain view.

For example, the woman quoted as supporting the campaign says she was only riding at 30mph. Now I don't want to sound like I'm criticising her for having the accident but we need to understand that at 30, our stopping distance on a reasonable surface is about FIVE BIKE LENGTHS - considerably less than the 23 metres the Highway Code suggests.

Go pace that out from a typical junction and park your bike there to see just how close you actually are. If the car blocks your path when you're closer than this then it's true you probably can't avoid a collision (though positioning and swerving can reduce your 'killing zone' even more.

Look back at your bike from five bike lengths away and see just how obvious it is. If the bike's blindingly obvious standing there, there's clearly something wrong with the idea that "the driver didn't look properly" - if it's so obvious, you don't need to "look properly" to see it.

And if there's something wrong with that idea, there's also something wrong with the idea that "teaching drivers to look harder will reduce collisions".

This is where we need to understand how the eye actually 'sees' and how the brain processes the visual information it receives. And it's not as straightforward as "looked / didn't look" or even "looked properly / didn't look properly" - we all know about optical illusions that deceive the brain.

But... a collision is a two-vehicle accident. It takes two to tangle.

We mentioned five bike lengths as a stopping distance. The problem is that accident recreations suggest that in most cases the rider actually HAD the space and time to stop, but obviously didn't. So there's another question that needs investigating.

This campaign brings nothing new to the table. We simply MUST get away from the idea that junction collisions happen because drivers "don't look properly" and get both sides understanding the dynamics of the circumstances which can result in a junction collision. Saying drivers should look harder is simply sticking an elastoplast on a broken leg and hoping it'll get better. It neither helps drivers understand why they sometimes don't see bikes, nor helps bikers understand why they are sometimes not seen, and more importantly DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

In fact, rather than take collisions at face value, all sides need to sit down and THINK! harder about the issues.

 

[The Spin Doctor]

PS... not sure the "half of riders are killed at junctions" is actually correct.

Junctions certainly account for the majority of COLLISIONS particularly in urban areas, but the major killers are cornering and overtaking going wrong out on the open road. I'm a bit busy right now but will see if I can dig out some recent figures.

 

[Cloggy]

Biker down now has courses in the North East of England.
Here's their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BikerDownNorthEast
thanks for the heads up spin Doctor