Merseyside Adds Weight To The RideSafe BackSafe Initiative
Merseyside and Lancashire join forces for motorcycle road safety
Merseyside Road Safety Partnership has joined forces with Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and Drivesafe in Greater Manchester to support motorcyclists through the established RideSafe BackSafe initiative.
All three partners have government targets for reducing casualties on their roads and each has a particular focus on motorcyclists, as they typically make up about 1% of all road traffic but more than 22% of all fatalities and serious injuries in road traffic collisions.
Communications Manager at Merseyside Road Safety Partnership, Emma Kelly, explains the decision;
” Motorcyclists are vulnerable road-users by definition and we are committed to reducing the number of casualties across Merseyside. RideSafe BackSafe is managed ‘by bikers, for bikers’ and has become well known for supporting motorcycle shows, bike meets, publicity campaigns and training programmes over the last four years. Although we have worked with the RideSafe BackSafe team for a while, we are now combining our resources, aims and focus to increase both the effectiveness and the spread of our campaigns and activities. A crucial part of our strategy will be to work even more closely with local motorcycle dealerships and the motorcycle industry as a whole “.
Merseyside already supports Bikesafe on the Wirral and this has proved an effective way to encourage motorcyclists to regularly improve their riding skills. Bikesafe is a national road safety initiative that shares the knowledge, skills and experience of local police motorcyclists through a series of workshops and guided ride-outs.
Emma Kelly continues;
” Supporting motorcyclists with easy access to advice, information and training is high on our agenda and I am sure that our involvement will allow RideSafe BackSafe to do even more good work for thousands of bikers across the North West “.