Building Up Bridges With Bikers to Cut Down the Carnage ; There Were 18 Motor Biking Fatalities on North Wales Roads Last Year. City Biker Julian Wellen Tried a New Course Aimed at Reversing Those Tragic Statistics

NORTH Wales has some of the best biking roads in Britain, bringing thousands of riders into the region every year.

But last year was marred by a shocking rise in fatalities.

The police have been working hard — and successfully — to bring the toll down over the past few years, but the crackdown that followed the soaring crash rate brought them few friends in the biking community.

Many people claim they were being picked on for “minor” infringements such as illegal race exhaust cans, small number plates or dark visors.

In a bid to build bridges and overcome bikers’ suspicions the police have set up Bike Safe — a national scheme involving advanced riders’ groups to help improve skills and keep us all safe on the roads.

It is supported nationally by key figures such as three-times British Superbike champion John Reynolds and the North Wales force is leading the way with a series of one and two-day courses throughout the year.

Last year the long period of fine weather brought out even more bikers than usual and there were 18 fatal crashes in North Wales. This year there have been seven so far.

Bike Safe project manager Paul Cheshire said: “There was a big increase across the country last year, partly due to the weather, combined with the inexperience of ‘casual’ riders who had not been riding through the winter. “

It may surprise the non-bikers — and many bikers — to learn that one of the most common causes of fatality is the left hand bend in the dry, where if you overdo it there can often be nowhere to go but into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

So it was encouraging to find that the Bike Safe courses have been popular with people keen to learn how they can minimise the dangers. Paul said: “There has been a big change in attitude. People realise they are vulnerable and are doing something about it. “

He added: “The main problems the hard to reach riders have are attitude and poor technique but they are picking up on that and realising we all have something to learn. “

As a relative late comer to biking I am well aware of the fact that I am in a high risk group. Having been riding for just five years I know I still have a lot to learn.

My latest bike — the third — is a Yamaha Fazer 600, a great all- rounder on which in the few months I have owned it I have racked up nearly 4, 000 miles and worn out the rear tyre enjoying the wide sweeping roads of Scotland, daily commutes into Liverpool and numerous trips out on the fantastic, twisty, challenging roads of North Wales.

My fellow learners on the last weekend course of the year included people from all walks of life, some had just started riding, one had been riding for about 40 years.

We were all linked by a common desire to improve our technique and enjoy our riding, although one man, a racer, was keen to tone down his style for the road and try to hang on to the treasured licence he was perilously close to losing.

The weekend was blessed with dry, mild, perfect biking weather and began with a talk from Paul on the “System”, the police technique for good riding.

The essential element is constant observation backing up the phases of information, position, speed, gear and acceleration to make sure you are in the right place on the road, at the right speed and in the right gear to move on once you are past any hazard. In a biker’s case, hazards could be crossings, junctions, cars, pedestrians or just corners.

Paul then took me out on the road, pointing out buildings — watch out for hidden entrances; recently trimmed verges — could still be going on round the next bend; tree lines to show the path of the road ahead after a corner.

Even a newly-ploughed field could mean a tractor ahead with mud on the road.

He then followed me as I tried to put it all into practice.

Using the System made me much smoother, not so much late braking into bends and last-minute gear changes which can unsettle the bike, and improved my cornering lines, helping me resist the temptation to apex bends with unnecessary changes of direction.

The next day began with a sobering talk from Chief Inspector Mark Owen, head of the Operational Support Department on the fatal consequences of bad riding. Mark is a biker himself and visits each crash site in his official role.

One series of pictures showed a rider speeding, with a doctored number plate to confuse the cameras and a T-shirt poking fun at the police. The last image was of his bike just around a corner, on the wrong side of the road, buried in the front of a car.

He didn’t survive.

It left us all feeling pretty chastened as we prepared to go out on the road again with advanced rider Ian Mason for another assessed ride.

Back on the bike, the constant concentration and observation makes for a very involved and enjoyable ride, with real satisfaction as it all comes together. And as Paul had pointed out, you’re still making good progress on the road; with all those bends it’s often hard to get up to the speed limit anyway, let alone over it.

Flattering reports from Ian and Paul suggested I should go on to try for an advanced qualification, while pointing out my shortcomings, such as some late gear changes and the reluctance to get into position for corners as early as I could. Ian concluded with the telling comment that I should “avoid meat in the sandwich overtakes” — that is overtaking when there is oncoming traffic, no matter how much room I think there is. As Ian pointed out: “You are leaving the drivers with nowhere to go if there is something on the road ahead you haven’t seen. “

That bad habit is a legacy of city commuting and trying to make good progress in traffic jams, but it is a habit I am trying to kick.

The weekend finished with a talk on bike suspension and tyre setups from West Cheshire College tutor Paul Donnelly and another from paramedic instructor (and fellow biker on the course) Ian Thomas on what to do in the event of an accident and serious injury.

The course is a great way of improving your skills and essential to anyone coming back to biking after a lay-off — even if it’s only from putting the bike away for the winter — you may not feel rusty, but even a couple of weeks off can make a difference. You can even get a discount on your insurance.

Most importantly though, as the Bike Safe web site puts it: “The best performance modification you can make to a sports motorcycle is to improve the skills of its rider. “

n Details on next year’s courses are available on the web site www. bikesafe. co. uk and there will be a stand at the International Motorcycle Show at the NEC in Birmingham, November 5-14.