BikeSafe

[RockLobster]

I've been busy the past two days attending the BikeSafe course run by South Wales Police. Both days followed a similar format. Classroom theory in the morning followed by lunch then an observed ride which lasted around three hours. 14 attended the course and there were around 6 instructors who did the observations. The instructors were police officers, paramedics and civilians. All had RoSPA Gold.

The observations were really useful. As I have a 125 I couldn't go out with a group so I had the benefit of having one instructor for both days. He worked for the fire service. I didn't even know they had bikers. The observations were relaxed and they didn't mind speed providing it was safe to do it. I couldn't really go fast anyway on a 125 lol. I would ride for say 30 minutes and then stop for a briefing on how the ride went.

The biker cops were a friendly bunch. And some of the stories they had. I said to one have you been involved in any accidents he said no but a year or so ago he was riding along and some stupid bint pulled out and almost pushed him into traffic on the other side of the road. He pulled her over and said what the heck was you just playing at, you almost pushed me into the other lane and her response was "I'm from Crickhowell (village around here) I have the right of way". She was booked lol.

The biker cops said they don't mind people speeding but there's a time and place. Only this morning he was following someone on the M4 a guy on a CBR600 doing 130. He had the blue lights on trying to pull him over so pulled along side him to tell him to pull over. Instead of doing a lifesaver the guy pulled straight across almost taking him out. The cop said if he pulled over in a sensible manner I would have given him a slap on the wrist but he ended up getting a speeding ticket.

All in all I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. And to boot we got given a few goodies. Mug, bag, book (Motorcycle Roadcraft) and a few other things.

 

[Draeger]

Bikesafe is an excellent course and well worth signing up for. Places on most Bikesafe courses are usually limited and sought after so get in there quick.

Fire and Rescue services up and down the country have been flirting with using bikes for some time now. Merseyside F&RS have bike teams which respond to small, secondary fires and extinguish them using onboard high pressure water / foam lances. Some F&RS use bikes to respond to AFA's ( automatic fire alarms ) in cities where traffic volume is high. In Europe, some fire services use bikes to respond to road traffic collisions and some carry battery power pack operated cutting equipment. No one in the UK does this as yet.

My service doesn't utilise bikes as yet but I'd be first in the queue to volunteer if they ever considered bringing a few into service.

 

[Red_knight]

Kent fire brigade has a bike, but IIRC it's mainly a PR machine - gets taken around to schools and such (apparently potential junior arsonists are more like to listen to someone seen as cool, and as we all know bikes are cool)

 

[paddy]

Good to hear you liked it.

I did the Derbyshire BikeSafe a few weeks ago an enjoyed that. We were told to stick to the speed limits though so things stayed very sensible. We had a full day in the class room then the following day a 3-4 hour ride out.

I took away some useful stuff - scariest thing were the misconceptions the other attendees had (e.g. using the rear brake as the main one )