Bike Safety Campaign

South Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership launches a biker awareness campaign.

Injuries to motorcyclists are far out of proportion to their presence on our roads: motorbikes are just 1% of total road traffic, but account for around 20% of all Great Britain's road user deaths.

In South Yorkshire alone, between 2005 and 2008 there were 515 crashes involving bikers that resulted in death or serious injury.

As the clocks changed on 29 March and the evenings are now getting lighter, this is the time when bikers traditionally start to take their bikes out on the road again. The South Yorkshire casualty reduction partnership is urging drivers to 'look for the bike again' at junctions.

The road safety campaign consists of radio adverts running across the whole of the county and other advertising materials encouraging the driver to look for the bike again. Materials have also been produced specifically for bikers, reminding them of how they can stay safe on the roads.

Andy Male, Chief Inspector for roads policing in South Yorkshire said,

"Collisions involving motorcyclists fall into two main areas, rider error including excessive speed and those where another road users fails to see or plan for the possibility of a motorcycle being on the road, the other motorist performs a manoeuvre such as pulling out from a side road, turning right or left of the main carriage way they then hit the motor cyclist.

"Junctions are a constant danger for bikers and I urge all road users to look for the bike again and help make South Yorkshire roads safer."

For more details, visit www.safetycamera.org/biker