How may times have you had a near miss with a motorbike? Was it in the last year, month or even week? The truth is both two and four wheelers take to the road in masses yet although Motorbikes account for only 1% of road traffic a staggering 20% of all road fatalities are bikers.
It’s been a while since I sat my driving test (no sniggering!) so I can’t really remember much of what was included in the theory part but I was shocked to learn that you are able to pass your complete test without a single question about motorbike awareness or how best to drive share the road with them safely.
There is currently an official e-petition by the government that allows the matter to be debated in the House of Commons if a minimum of 100,000 signatures are obtained. So far the total stands at just over 64,00 and the deadline is Friday afternoon; so yes I understand it’s a tall order but I do really believe that if we all share the e-petition then we stand a chance of busting the target.
The campaign is being spear headed by Bennetts the motorbike insurance specialist who have promised to organize a mass ride out featuring bikes old and new, if the target number of signatures is achieved to deliver the petition to the House of Commons
Unfortunately for Paula Burrows she is all too aware of the devastating consequences of not spotting motorcyclists; she lost her son in a motorbike accident involving a car. For her awareness or motorcyclists is something that should be present from the beginning of an individuals’ driving career. And if I’m honest as much as motorcyclists can annoy me when they shimmy up to the front of the traffic jam I agree – we need to change attitudes if such a startling fatality rate is to be reduced.
You may wonder why this is something of interest to me; He had a motorbike (apparently it was a beast, all I Know is it made a lot of noise and was extremely fast!) yet when we found out I was expecting Boo it was a case of motorbike out, baby in! Although I’m sure that he is kept sane by the lingering promise of a new bigger better shiny bike once some of the Stinkies have flown the nest!
He of course was always the most sensible and conscientious of motorcyclists (cough cough) yet even now he’s back on four wheels he will admit that he sometimes just doesn’t see a motorbike.
The truth is there are over 1.3 million motorbikes on Britain’s roads so it seems obvious that road safety is one that should be shared between all road users and what better way to kick start this attitude than to introduce at test level. Bennetts are so committed to the cause that they’ve even set up a dedicated tab on Facebook where celebrities and bike enthusiasts like Suzi Perry and Darren Gough have leant their support.
We’re all busy, our days are filled with millions of things to do and the list keeps getting longer; but it takes less than 2 minutes to show your support for something that may one day affect our children – I’m sure the day will come when Boo brings a hunk of a biker home as a boyfriend!
