South Yorkshire Police’s specialist motorcycle officers focused on 27 stretches of road identified as the worst in the county for motorcycle casualties. Between 1 April and 30 September each year since 2007 on Wednesday evenings and Sundays, when intelligence suggests there are more motorcyclists on the roads, officers patrolled the identified routes, engaged with motorcyclists and passed on the road safety message. Officers also attended well-known meeting places on routes to British Super Bike meetings with colleagues from Humberside, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Cleveland and Durham. In addition, for the first time in 2010, 300 ‘Biker Beware’ signs were placed along popular routes encouraging other motorists to look out for motorcyclists.

Sergeant Graham Sayner, head of South Yorkshire Police’s Motorcycle Wing said: “It is recognised that motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to be killed than car users and four times more likely to be killed than cyclists. We have now run this specific initiative for four years and the reductions in casualties we have seen are not insignificant. Rather than just enforcing the law we have seen the benefit of engaging with and educating fellow motorcyclists out and about on our roads and this, along with our more formal workshops will hopefully continue to drive down the numbers of motorcyclists killed and seriously injured.”

The Motorcycle Industry Association’s (MCIA) Director for Safety, Karen Cole added: “The MCIA fully supports police forces such as South Yorkshire whose initiatives are having a positive impact on motorcycle casualty reduction. We recognise that enforcement alone can lead to distrust between police and motorcyclists and this South Yorkshire initiative has proved over the last few years that, with education and engagement as well as enforcement where it is justified, we can make the roads safer for all.”

South Yorkshire Police, part of the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership, also run safer riding workshops under the national BikeSafe scheme that provides motorcyclists with the opportunity to spend a day with advanced police motorcyclists, involving a presentation on safer riding techniques and a number of assessed rides.

To find out more and to book onto a BikeSafe workshop with South Yorkshire Police, visit www.bikesafe.co.uk.