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PRAISE FOR BIKERS AS CASUALTIES FALL
08 March 2006
Bikers have been praised by road safety chiefs after new figures showed motorcycle casualties dropped in the past 12 months.
New figures show just two motorcyclists were killed in North Lincolnshire in 2005 - three less than the previous year.
And Pc Roy Hindmarsh, of the Road Safety Partnership, said taking a more proactive approach of working alongside bikers played a part in bringing the figures down.
He revealed that in 2005: The number of motorcyclists seriously injured dropped from 30 to 26, slightly injured dropped from 51 to 46.
The number of motorcyclists involved in accidents fell from 86 to 74 and the number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured fell from 35 to 28.
Pc Hindmarsh said a new motorcycle forum, at which the police and cyclists worked together, had helped deal with any problems.
Created last year, the forum has members from the police, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Institute of Advanced Motorists, who sit alongside ordinary bikers to work out the best ways of getting safety messages across.
"The forum is brilliant because it is all about motorcycles," said Pc Hindmarsh.
"We are coming up with initiatives all the time to help spread the message about safety, which seems to be getting across."
Operation Achilles, which saw speed cameras placed on danger roads during the main biking season, was also a success - with a low number of bikers stopped.
And Pc Hindmarsh said the future was looking bright.
A new initiative, which is set to come into force this April, is the creation of special signs on roads which have seen accidents in the past.
These signs will make it clear which corners could cause problems for bikers.
Pc Hindmarsh added: "Hopefully, future initiatives will help bring the casualty rate down even more.
"I am delighted it has dropped, but we will never stop trying to get the figure lower." The road safety expert was also celebrating success on pedal cyclists, with the number of people killed or seriously injured down from 15 to 10.
This, he said, was partly down to the work done in schools and colleges by members of the Road Safety Partnership.
He added: "Targeting the youngsters has helped, but we still need to get the message out to those who ride to and from work in the dark.
"We get a lot of calls complaining about people who have no lights or reflective clothing, and we need to make people aware of the dangers."
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