News

27 March 2009
SAFER TO DRIVE IN SCOTLAND – EXCEPT FOR BIKERS

SCOTLAND has become a safer place in which to drive for every type of road user according to government statistics – except for motorcyclists.

As summer-like weather is being experienced in many places throughout the country this Spring, more motorcyclists are taking to the country’s roads ahead of the usual biking season. With the deaths of five bikers last week, motorists and motorcyclists are being urged to take extra care by the road policing officers as they focus on motorcycle safety as part of a ‘Country Roads  Weekend’ for the next three days in all eight Scottish police force areas..

“We would like to remind all motorists that as summertime approaches, we will be seeing better weather, more hours of daylight and more motorcyclists out for their first runs of the season,” said Assistant Chief Constable Gordon MacKenzie (Central Scotland Police), Chair of the Road User Management & Road Crime Reduction Portfolio for the Road Policing Business Area of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). “And a percentage of those motorcyclists will be from continental Europe who may be unfamiliar with many of our country roads.

“Statistics published by the Scottish Government show that motorcycles are involved in twice as many injury road collisions than their make-up as road users,” Mr MacKenzie continued. “This is a safety issue that has to be addressed by both motorcyclists as well as other road users as the Department for Transport (DfT) research shows that about 40 per cent of motorcycle fatalities involve a car driver failing to see an approaching motorcycle when looking for on-coming traffic.

“While the number of road collisions has fallen since 1997 and the number or seriously injured persons has dropped considerably, two anomalies stand out,” he stressed.   “Collisions and injuries on non-built up and/or country roads have not decreased as much as on built up roads and the number collisions involving motorcyclists has hardly dropped at all.”

In 2000, the Scottish Government set targets for reducing road accident casualties, and those targets will be readily realised by next year in the reduction of the number of people and children killed or seriously injured in road collisions as well as in the slight casualty rate category.

“Efforts by the Scottish and UK governments and Scotland’s eight police forces and all of our partners since 2000 have made our country’s roads a lot safer for everyone – whether they are driving, cycling or walking,” ACC MacKenzie concluded. “We want everyone to be safe using our country’s roads – and that includes motorcyclists.”