Warwickshire Police BikeSafe team helps Norton Motorcycles test engineers enhance their skills

Officers from Warwickshire Police’s BikeSafe team have been working with Norton Motorcycles to enhance the riding skills of their test engineers and improve their safety on the roads. Over the past few weeks, seven of Norton Motorcycles test engineers have attended a BikeSafe workshop.

John Russell, Interim CEO at Norton Motorcycles, said:

“The safety of riders is important to us, so we are delighted to partner with BikeSafe. The BikeSafe initiative can enhance the riding skills of any motorcycle enthusiast, from beginner to advanced and Norton team members took part in workshops and on road assessed rides to assess their defensive road riding skills. Norton has ambitious plans to grow and to appeal to a broad range of customers who can benefit from the assessments BikeSafe make of rider skill and the advice they give on accredited training programmes.’’

Sgt 1960 Shaun Bridle from Warwickshire Police Roads Policing unit said:

“Unfortunately it’s a fact that motorcyclists are at a higher risk of being seriously injured in any collision. Over recent years we have had a number of serious and fatal collisions involving motorcyclists on our roads and in several of these collisions it has been established that rider error was a significant contributing factor. I am confident that additional rider training, such as that offered on BikeSafe, equips riders to gain the skills and knowledge to be safer riders and shows the advantages of further training.”

The Warwickshire Police BikeSafe team is keen to work with all motorcycle groups in the motorcycle industry whether the motorcycles are used to travel to and from work or those who ride professionally as part of their role. The aim is the same - to impart some extra knowledge and skills and reduce the risk of them being involved in a collision.

BikeSafe is a national police run motorcycle initiative, aimed at working with motorcycle riders in a relaxed environment to raise awareness of the importance and value of progressing on to accredited post-test training. Warwickshire BikeSafe workshops involve an observed ride with a police graded motorcyclist. BikeSafe workshops aim to cover: rider attitude, systematic methods, collision causation, cornering, positioning, overtaking, observation, braking, hazard perception and use of gears.

For further details regarding BikeSafe and how to book a course please visit www.bikesafe.co.uk 

PHOTO: PS Shaun Bridle with Norton Motorcycles Test Engineer Simran Jugdev