Police step up campaign to keep bikes safer on roads
Riders on two wheels are being urged to stay safe and motorists told to share the road responsibility.
The messages come after it was revealed 33 people have died in collisions involving motorbikes or cycles over the last three years.
West Mercia Police says it wants to reduce the number of collisions and Close Pass operations, which will look out for vehicles passing cyclists too closely, will be part of the work that will take place.
The police plea ties in with a national enforcement campaign starting next week. The campaign is being run across the UK and co-ordinated by NPCC, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, to improve road safety and law enforcement.
Between 2018 and 2020, 23 people have died and 262 have been seriously injured in collisions involving a motorcycle in West Mercia. A further 10 people died and 171 were seriously injured in collisions involving a bicycle.
Officers say cyclists and motorcyclists feature heavily within road collisions and continue to be two of the most vulnerable road users.
Education
Superintendent Melanie Crowther, of West Mercia Police, said: “Supporting this national campaign with local activities and increased enforcement is an important way of raising road safety issues amongst cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users.
“Unfortunately cyclists and motorcyclists are over-represented within our road collision statistics and we want to ensure we are doing all we can with both education and enforcement to keep these two groups safer.
"This not only means specific activity with these two groups but with all motorists on the role they can play to keep vulnerable road users safer”.
As part of the campaign, posters will be erected along key motorcycle routes to raise awareness to both motorcyclists and other road users of the importance of looking out for each other.
Throughout the campaign officers will also be conducting various operations to enforce compliance of road traffic regulations and improve driver/rider behaviour.
“One of the campaigns will be to address concerns from cyclists around vehicles passing too closely,” added Superintendent Crowther.
