No driver wants to be involved in an accident, but they especially don’t want to be involved in a collision with a vulnerable road user because the results can be so much worse.
To reduce the chances of this the Department for Transport has just launched a new campaign to raise driver awareness of the danger they can pose to motorcyclists. It focuses in on collisions at junctions – a particular issue according to crash statistics.
Motorbikes make up just 1% of all road users in the UK, but are involved in 19% of all fatal accidents so are clearly a high risk group. However, only some of these accidents can be put down to the fault of other drivers, and as with all road users, the responsibility has to be a shared one.
Of course drivers have a responsibility to look out for motorcyclists and this campaign will hopefully help to keep that message at front of mind. But the motorcyclists also have a responsibility to stay safe and not to take risks. For a fairly modest sum, a performance bike can be purchased delivering a top speed and acceleration to rival many supercars – this means that the rider has a big responsibility to control all of this power.
The speeds that they travel at, how they weave in and out of traffic, when and where they overtake and their general behaviors are bound to have an impact on their level of road risk so bikers must take responsibility for their own safety as much as other road users..
It’s the same old story, whether you drive a car or van, a motorbike or a push bike; you have to focus on your own actions while also looking out for the actions of others. So an important campaign and hopefully one that will influence the motorcyclists just as much as the drivers that see it.
Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at Arval, the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company.