MAG welcomes Highways England for Superbike outreach


MAG welcomes Highways England’s attendance at the British Superbike Championship in Silverstone.

Highways England, which is in charge of looking after the UK’s strategic road network, has used the race meeting to invite bikers to attend two life-saving courses: BikeSafe and BikerDown.

‘Highways England and MAG have worked together for three years now,’ says Lembit Öpik, MAG’s Director of Communications & Public Affairs. ‘Their proactivity led to their attendance at the first Superbike event of the year. They get the difference between lecturing riders versus working with us to achieve safety outcomes. I hope that riders sign up to both schemes they’re promoting.‘

BikeSafe is a police-led initiative to improve biker skills. Bikers ride with expert police motorcyclists, who observe riding skills and advise on road techniques. This aims to make riding safer and more rewarding. Subjects include hazard perception, cornering, filtering and group riding. The other scheme, BikerDown, gives vital skills if you’re first at an incident involving a fellow biker. The course covers:

•    How to manage an accident scene
•    Assisting an injured rider with roadside intervention
•    Motorcycle-specific first aid – including how to remove a helmet

Highways England has also launched a new app, which provides a GPS reference for road users who need help, particularly on remote ‘A’
roads. You’ll find more about the App and all the other useful things it does at:

https://highwaysengland.co.uk/mobile-services/

Highways England’s head of road safety, Richard Leonard, commented: ‘We are committed to improving safety on our roads and are conscious that motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. Going to Silverstone offered the ideal opportunity for us, working with our partners, to take our safety messages to motorcyclists and promote responsible and safe riding.’ Find out more by visiting:

www.gov.uk/government/news/highways-england-takes-safety-message-to-moorcyclists

Contact MAG at 01926 844 064 or central-office@mag-uk.org