Devon publishes report into motorcycling crashes

Devon County Council has published a report presenting and analysing data from collisions in the County in which motorcyclists were fatally or seriously injured. The report also contrasts the data with results from other research on the subject.

The report is a prelude to Devon’s ‘Bringing Bikers out of the Blind Spot’ campaign. "We are currently engaged in a major consultation exercise with riders throughout the County and will be attempting to reconcile differences between their experiences and the Stats 19 (police collision data) evidence," says Paul Hewson, a member of Devon’s Road Safety Team. "For example, Stats 19 suggests almost no problem with highway conditions but that isn't what the riders are telling us and we intend to get to the bottom of that as part of our campaign."

Here are some of the report’s key conclusions:

• Informal training to increase a rider’s experience with a given machine may have a value.
  
• Targeted training at teenagers/moped riders is clearly necessary. While it is unclear how this can be made attractive to those selecting scooters on the basis of fashion, those seeking cheap mobility may be more amenable to suitably priced training of an appropriate type.
  
• There is strong evidence that the peak age for fatal casualties is 30-40 years - higher than the corresponding peak for serious casualties. This is something that may have changed over time. For example, in 1983 Woodward demonstrated how motorcycle fatalities used to peak at around 20 years of age. There is also evidence of leisure riders being over-represented in the casualty figures.
  
• It appears that riders could do a lot more to improve their own safety, which implies that careful riders do not experience quite the same level of risk as the RAGB overall estimate of risk for motorcyclists. The risk to a trained and cautious motorcyclist could therefore be much lower than the overall figure suggests. It should be noted that at the time of writing the report the estimated risk per kilometre for motorcycles was lower than for pedal cycles - yet the Government is working very hard to promote pedal cycling.
  
• There is still scope for dealing with ‘looked but did not see’ collisions. It is claimed that police drivers can be taught to look and see a little better, and this raises the question of whether a flavour of this training can be introduced into wider courses for road users.
  

A copy of the report can be found in the resources section of this website. Alternatively, further information or a hard copy can be obtained from Paul Hewson, data analyst and research officer, Road Safety Team, Environment Directorate, Devon County Council, 1st Floor, Lucombe House, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter EX2 4QW. Tel (01392) 382773. Fax (01392) 382135.
Email phewson@devon.gov.uk.