Although motorcyclists make up less than 3% of vehicles on the UK’s roads, they represent more than 20% of those killed on our roads.  So we carried out a deep dive into our data that revealed our 46-65 year old leisure riders on high powered 500cc and above bikes are particularly at risk in Warwickshire. 

Whilst drivers or riders ‘failing to judge the other person’s path or speed’ and ‘failing to look properly’ especially at junctions can be a major cause of collisions involving motorcyclists, ‘loss of control’ and ‘poor turn or manoeuvre’ also featured in collisions involving the more powerful motorbikes 500cc over a 5 year period between 2019-2023.

To help improve the safety of motorcyclists on our roads we have launched a new campaign encouraging drivers to look at least twice for motorcyclists especially at junctions where we know most collisions occur.  We are also encouraging bikers to upskill. Now is the perfect time for this campaign to run, because July and August are the peak months for motorcyclist collisions.

Please look out for this advert on the back of buses in and around Leamington, Rugby and Nuneaton.

And both the above and below advert on social media.

Regardless of how experienced you are, we are encouraging motorcyclists to get in the habit of continually refreshing and improving their skills.  There are some great free and subsidised courses available in Warwickshire including:-

• BikeSafe  Warwickshire Police – BikeSafe 
• Biker Down Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service Events | Eventbrite 
• Coventry and Warwickshire Advanced Riders www.coventryadvancedriders.co.uk
• South Warwickshire Advanced Riders www.swar.org.uk

PC Darren Bailey, BikeSafe Coordinator said “Our country roads are popular with motorcyclists particularly in the south of the county where we have some great routes.  I’m a motorcyclist myself and although these roads are great fun for bikers, they are challenging and this is where we see the majority of our most serious collisions. 

“As well as making it a habit to keep on learning to become a safer and more skilful biker, we are urging motorcyclists to wear the correct protective clothing, slow down for junctions and make sure they have been seen by drivers particularly when they approach junctions.”