Staffordshire Motorcycle Road Safety Seminar

I went to a seminar last week hosted by Staffordshire Country Council to listen to what they had to say about reducing motorcycle casualties on the areas roads.

I took some notes down as I thought some here would be interested to hear what they had to say. These are not very detailed or in any particular order, but they will give a summary of what was said.

There are 11 initiatives planned for the next two years.

These will be paid for by the following:

£854k from the DfT
£400k from the Highways Agency
£185k from the Road Safety Partnership

THIS MONEY IS FOR MOTORCYCLE RELATED ISSUES ONLY.

Rider Development

1 day subsidised training with an IAM rider for £30.
300 riders have taken advantage of this so far.
200 places per year are available in Staffordshire, with 94 being the most taken in any year.

Last year three counties had a total of £9000 set asde to subsidise these days. Less than £300 was actually spent!

The subsidy is set to continue for the IAM Skills For Life, and ROSPA courses. Refunds of £40, £50 and £60 for Bronze, Silver and Gold ratings on the ROSPA course.

Insurance discounts have been arranged with Carol Nash and Devitts in relation to these schemes

CBT Schemes

Pre-CBT - aimed at 15-16 year old in schools. DVD resource

CBT extra - for CBT level riders. If they attend a 2 hour theory workshop, it entitles them to 4 hours free on the road training and the option to purchase FULL KIT for £120.

MCIA CBT Scheme

The MotorCycle Industry Association are running an interesting scheme for the next 18 months / 2 years
50 young drivers are being GIVEN their CBT training for free and will be evaluated over two years to see if the CBT has helped their driving.
A control group will NOT be given the CBT, but some free driving lessons as their incentive for being involved.

Planned Campaigns

Kill Spills (diesel spills) is to be rolled out further. Lots of council diesel vehicles have overfill-warning stickers on them. Fire Service appliances also have them fitted

A campaign to contact farmers (possibly via the NFU) and inform them of their obligations in regards to cleaning up the roads and cutting back foliage obscuring signs.

Car drivers leaflet

Highways Hotline

I believe this replaces 'Clarence'. The freephone number can be called to report any highway related issues - potholes, loose surfaces, diesel spills etc.

The number is 0800 23 23 23.

Ride It Right Routes

These are the roads in the county with the highest casualty rates. They already have posters on them (Bikers Beware). For 2009 these routes are:

A34 Trentham to Cannock
A449 Wombourne to Kinver
A5 Weston to Gailey
A53 Leek to Flash
A53 Newcastle to Loggerheads
A458 Stourton to Six Ashes
A460 Cannock to Wolverhampton
A518 Stafford to Newport (Shrops)

£1M has been allocated for the following on these routes:

New signage
Verge markers
Resurfacing
Drainage improvements
Solar powered Cats Eyes
Visibility improvements at junctions
'Bikeguard' barriers (I think these are additions / replacements for traditional armco barriers)

OPERATION OCTANE

Operated by Staffs Police on the Ride it Right Routes
3 weekends per year - two bank holidays and one other
All bikes targetted for stops
Out of 450 bikes stopped last bank holiday, only 2 were prosecuted so the emphasis is most definately on education, rather than prosecution. (My guess is the two prosecutions were for serious things like no insurance, rather than number plate / exhaust / visor)

RIDE (not sure what this stands for)

As an alternative to prosecution for Section 36 offences (not sure what these are, but I got the impression they carry points and fines) the RIDE scheme gives the person a chance to do a theory day instead.

Focus Group

Staffs County Council have decided to set up one or two Focus Groups (North / South), made up of riders, trainers, road safety professionals and police / fire service etc to have an input on how the money available should be spent. These will meet every 6 weeks or so.


I signed up to join the Focus Group because I think its a positive thing. It was refreshing to see someone with enthusiam for our saftey without banging the 'speeding' drum.


I will post updates here if people are interested.

[mister c]

Nice to see a bit of pro-active work, lets just hope that they see it through

I like this
Maybe other forces will take note and use the same ethos
My force GMP cant even sign up to Bikesafe!!!!!!!!!!! We have to go to Cheshire instead

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