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BIKESAFE EXPERIENCE
By Chris Bottle
 On
a frosty November morning Devitt’s Head of Marketing, Chris
Bottle and Claims Manager, Graham Darrah both set off on two wheels
for The Metropolitan Police Sports Club near Bromley in Kent to
attend their first BikeSafe London Skills Day. Here Chris writes
about their experience.
With Graham aboard his Aprilia RSV-R Mille and me on a Honda CBR600F,
we were both slightly apprehensive about the thought of being followed
and scrutinized by the police for the next six or seven hours, however
the day proved to be incredibly useful and very enjoyable.
Upon arrival Graham, I and eight others were given an introductory
briefing by PC Adrian Alsop and PC Ian Burchell about the timetable
and what we should take away from the day.
First up were useful classroom sessions on Collision Causation
Analysis, The System of Motorcycle Control and Filtering and Hazard
Awareness. Then it was on to our first observed ride of the day,
where we were paired up and allocated a police rider to follow.
By now, the early morning frost had melted to leave a bright, dry
winter’s day.
On the road
The first ride was into nearby Orpington for some town riding.
I found this quite hard going as there was a myriad of hazards to
avoid including pedestrians wandering aimlessly into the road, delivery
vans double-parked and learner drivers doing 1mph up the high street.
In a convoy of three, the Police BMW sat in the middle whilst we
took turns to lead and follow.
Once complete it was back to base for a debriefing and some much
needed lunch. My observer PC Ian Burchell gave some positive feedback
and a few handy pointers. I particularly liked “What does
it mean if a white van is indicating right? Nothing more than that
the bulb works!!”
The second observed ride saw us back in our pairs for a ride down
into the biker-friendly twisting ‘A’ roads of the North
Kent countryside. I had been forewarned that the police observers
‘didn’t hang about’ and this proved to be the
case as we stopped intermittently for feedback on techniques for
reading the road and road positioning, all aimed at making swift
but safe progress.
After a further hour or so it was back to Bromley for afternoon
tea and debriefing. This was followed by final classroom sessions
on Collision Investigation and Security. A few of the images here
really brought home the reality of what can happen if you get it
wrong, or fail to ride defensively to allow for mistakes by other
road-users.
We rounded the day off with a certificate of attendance (which
now proudly sits on my desk) and thanking the Police observers for
their time and words of wisdom.
For £30 (which included our buffet lunch) it was a very worthwhile
day to attend. BikeSafe is not used as an opportunity for law enforcement
and the feedback is designed to help riders get the best out of
their machines. The participants were spoken to by the Police Officers
on a ‘biker to biker’ basis and the focus was very much
on safe, enjoyable riding. Both Graham and I would recommend you
put it on your ‘things to do’ list this season.
Remember
Attend a BikeSafe Rider Skills day and Devitt can offer you up
to 10% off your motorcycle insurance premium (subject
to conditions and acceptance criteria), because we believe it shows
a commitment to further learning and training. See the BikeSafe
website for further details.
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