Bid to cut death toll for bikers a success

Thursday 26th March 2009, 12:33AM GMT.

A campaign to reduce the number of deaths among bikers in the Bridgnorth area has been hailed a success.

In 2007, there were 10 deaths on the district’s roads and 50 per cent of them were motorcyclists.

As a result, police joined forces with other partners for a campaign to educate bikers in a bid to reduce the number of fatal crashes.

And today it was revealed that there were no road deaths in 2008 in the Bridgnorth area.

The scheme, which was led by West Mercia Police and saw campaigners targeting biker meetings in Quatford and Swancote, will now continue into 2009 and has been adopted elsewhere in the UK.

Constable Matt Picken, local police officer for Bridgnorth Rural East said: “We realised the problem had to be tackled by both enforcement and education and first took the issue to the Bridgnorth Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to discuss what could be done. It was decided the only way really was to meet the bikers at gatherings.

“Incredibly, in 2008 there were no fatal collisions in the Bridgnorth area at all, in any vehicle type.”

He added: “While we are aware this may not be solely down to the campaign, we do feel at least some of the amazing reduction was down to the hard work carried out.”

View more: Bridgnorth news, West Mercia Police news.