Bikers – don't get caught out in Derbyshire

26 March 2010

Don't get caught out on our countryside roads – that’s the message Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership is sending to motorcyclists during this year’s leisure riding season.

Partnership manager Robert Hill said: “Bikers are drawn to the Derbyshire countryside because it offers great rides – but too many of them are running into trouble. During last year’s leisure biking season, seventy per cent of the motorcycle crashes on our hot routes were caused solely by rider error.

“We want bikers to enjoy our countryside year after year rather than leaving in an ambulance or a hearse.”

For 2010, the partnership has updated its free publication - The Bikers’ Guide to Derbyshire - which is available from most motorcycle retailers in the county. The guide, which offers advice about how to survive the hot routes where riders are running into trouble, contains new sections about group riding and the partnership’s Sunday motorcycle meets in Matlock Bath.

Also included in the guide is an application form for Bike Plus, a cut-price rider development course offered by Derbyshire County Council. This type of training usually costs around £150 but the county council subsidy means that bikers living in Derbyshire and neighbouring counties can enrol for just £50.

Partnership manager Robert Hill said: “We decided to offer a larger discount to bikers from neighbouring counties this year because our crash figures show that around half of the bikers killed or injured on our roads come from outside Derbyshire. Our goal is to make the county’s road safer and we hope the improved subsidy will help us to do that.”

Robert added: “When we launched our bikers’ guide in 2008, the number of riders killed or badly hurt across the county dropped by almost a quarter during the leisure biking season. Unfortunately the number of bikers killed or badly hurt across Derbyshire rose from 128 in 2008 to 170 in 2009 - we need to work together to make 2010 a better year for motorcyclists.

During the leisure biking season, Derbyshire police will be making their presence felt on the country roads where bikers are regularly coming to grief. Operation Focus will be re-launched on Good Friday (2 April) and run on selected weekends and weekday evenings until October. During the operation, the police will be using both marked and unmarked vehicles for speed detection and patrols.

Chief Inspector Tim Frohwein, the head of roads policing for Derbyshire, said: “The majority of motorcyclists ride safely, within the legal limit and within their own capabilities – those riders have nothing to fear from this year’s enforcement campaign.

“Those who put their lives and the lives of other road users at risk will be subject to enforcement using new technology which will allow us to photograph the number plates of speeding riders more easily.”

The partnership’s motorcycle meets in Matlock Bath will be taking place on the following dates between 1 and 4pm:

Sunday 4 April (Easter Sunday)
Sunday 2 May
Sunday 6 June
Sunday 4 July
Sunday 1 August
Sunday 5 September

Visitors to the Pavilion car park will get the chance to air their views over a cuppa and receive a free copy of Great Roads Great Rides 2 – a dvd from the Highways Agency that’s a film and a computer game rolled into one.

Call Derbyshire on 08 456 058 058 for your free copy of The Bikers’ Guide to Derbyshire 2010.

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