Although we know two thirds of bike casualties are caused by a third party, POLICE in North Yorkshire and Cumbria joined forces Sunday week ago, patrolling popular motorcycle routes in an operation primarily aimed at motorcycle safety to support both forces’ ongoing campaigns to reduce biker deaths and injuries.
Traffic Sergeant Pete Stringer from North Yorkshire’s Road Policing Unit, said: “While our primary aim was reducing motorcycle casualties, approximately 70 per cent of the offenders we dealt with were car drivers. The vast majority of motorcyclists we observed were riding appropriately and safely, and I praise them for that.”
In Cumbria, officers stopped over 75 motorcyclists at Cowan Bridge. Seventeen vehicle defect rectification notices were issued for illegal or faulty exhausts and number plates. Two riders were stopped for speeding and one was taken into custody for riding a motorcycle while over the legal limit for alcohol.
If 75 riders were stopped and had their freedom of movement restricted, yet only two were for speeding offences, one was discovered to have been drinking and 17 were found to have a different end can after they were stopped, are we safe to assume that only those cars committing an offence pulled over?
By these figures only 2.6% of those riders stopped were pulled for speeding, the rest were pulled because they were on a bike first and foremost.
To ensure fair and balanced policing and given that 70% of offenders were in cars, that must surely mean hundreds of cars were randomly pulled over. We can’t find that news story…
Even if hundreds of cars weren’t randomly stopped, and the Police generally praise the conduct of riders, this surely demonstrates where the police should be aiming their resources both to stop criminal activity and save riders lives. Remember, nearly 70% of bike casualties involve a ‘sorry mate’…