The local VisionZero ( consortium, including the Cambridgeshire emergency services and the Cambridgeshire County Council) once again supported the Project EDWARD with an event in the Fenland town of March, as part of the international ‘weekend of action’. Both road safety initiatives have the laudable road safety goal of eliminating road deaths.
This is especially pertinent to the motorcycle community. The most vulnerable road user group in the death and serious injury category is motorcyclists. Although the official government statistics show that injury accidents are comparable for both cyclists and motorcyclists, it is motorcyclists that suffer more deaths and serious injuries than cyclists. It is now estimated that the average cost to the local authority of each fatal road accident is £2 million, clearly anything that can be done to reduce the risk of death and serious injury for the road users should be done. The cost to the victim is obviously so much higher!
This is where PECAM have led the way for the Advanced Rider community. Our partnership with VisionZero has been very successful. Since the launch in May 2021, we have recruited 40 new associates, 23 of whom have already passed their IAM Roadsmart Advanced Rider test (https://www.iamroadsmart.com/courses). VisionZero have funded a significant ‘cashback’ of up to 50% off the initial IAM Roadsmart fee, as an incentive to both sign up for the training AND to pass the test. The reimbursement is paid once the associate has passed their test and they have completed the second of three questionnaires, which form an integral part of our road safety initiative.
The Research!
Other IAM Roadsmart motorcycle training providers have joined with one or more partners to offer discounted, and sometimes even free, IAM Roadsmart courses in order to make the training as widely adopted as possible. However, uniquely PECAM have done so in conjunction with a research programme. It is intuitively understood that all training is beneficial, and that teaching roadcraft riding skills and techniques to motorcyclists, through the IAM Roadsmart rider course, makes safer, better riders. However, there is very little recorded evidence of the effect and impact of this training. Our research programme hinges on three questionnaires. The first is completed before the first observed session, the second on passing the advanced rider test, and the third six months post-test. The aim of the research is to see if there is any improvement in the riders’ skills and behaviours developed through the training, and also to see if that improvement is maintained.
The Project EDWARD day, held on 20th October in March, was very well attended by many providers of road safety activities and courses. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue service, who teach the excellent Biker Down course, joined us along with Ride Safe from Alconbury (https://ridesafetraining.co.uk/skidbike/), who provide the fantastic Skid Bike course. Magpas brought ‘Resusci Anne’ for people to practice First Aid on, and there were a number of special interest groups for horse riders and cyclists. In the market place members of the public could have their vehicles tyres and child seat fitting checked. Unfortunately, after one of the longest and driest Summer/Autumn periods on record the rain decided to turn up about 9:30am and continued to fall throughout the morning. This severely limited the number of members of the public who were able to engage with the event.
PECAM is a leading local road safety provider, and we are very supportive of all of the activities of our friends and partners in this arena. We look forward to supporting future VisionZero and Project EDWARD events in the future.