Monday 13th September was the first European wide Project EDWARD day. EDWARD stands for Every Day Without A Road Death, and shares its road safety aims with VisionZero. VisionZero is a government initiative to reduce the number of road users who are killed or seriously injured. At Peterborough Advanced Motorcyclists (PECAM) we are a local road safety charity happy to support both organisations as motorcyclists are statistically the most vulnerable road user, with by far the most deaths per mile traveled than any other user group.
Training is Key
2015 research carried out by the Institute of Advanced Motorists showed that training is a key contributor to motorcyclists’ well being on the road. Qualified advanced motorcyclists see more, anticipate other road users’ behavior better, and have fewer accidents that other motorcyclists. In addition, the accidents they do have are often more slow speed, or dropping their bike in the garage or on the driveway than at speed, meaning that injuries are fewer and a lot less severe.
VisionZero
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) (local government), through its VisionZero partnership with the emergency services and others are funding discounted training in Peterborough in order to help extend our reach. We are able to offer the full IAM Roadsmart Advanced Training course for effectively half-price. see VisionZero information here.
The Event
CPCA, through their VisionZero partners extended an invitation for PECAM to have our recruiting team and gazebo at the Project EDWARD event. This was held in the picturesque Market Square in the lovely City of Ely. There was a wide variety of organisations displaying what they had to offer and we were well positioned next to our friends at BikeSafe. There was a great deal of interest, and many more visitors to the event than anyone had anticipated. As a recruitment event we consider it to be a success with one person signing up at the event and a number of others having detailed conversations with us and taking away details.
