Mark Brown is a Trooper on the North Carolina State
Highway Patrol and has been interested in all things
to do with motorcycles for longer than he cares to
remember.
At
the time of the last Olympic Games he was fortunate
enough to be selected as one of an International team
of motorcyclists whose job it was to escort the Olympic
flame round the world and ensure its safety in each
of the 36 countries he visited.
Whilst
in London he linked up with the Metropolitan Police
Motorcycle Tasking Team (MTT) and they assisted the
officers in facilitating the torch through London. Whilst
here, he linked up with Inspector Steve Wilson, the
then head of the Motorcycle Tasking Team. They exchanged
email addresses and Steve then passed the details on
to me.
I
did not hear anything from Mark for some while, but
then, following an email by me, Mark and I entered into
a dialogue around the BikeSafe-London (BSL) project.
He
took the information and started to look around the
world for a project that he could adopt to deal with
the increased number of riders being killed and seriously
injured in his home state of North Carolina.
In
March of 2006 Mark flew over to spend a week with me
as my guest.
During the week he was exposed to all the things that
the MTT do. He visited Transport for London to see their
involvement and funding process, met with the Senior
Management Team at Empress State Building and had the
opportunity to speak to them regarding the manpower
issues surrounding the BSL project. Sarah Kell had prepared
written reports to help him with planning a presentation
to his own Senior Management Team, ensuring that his
return luggage would be overweight!
Whilst
with me, Mark undertook the BSL Rider Skills Day as
a customer and then as an assessor, resulting in him
being accredited to deliver the BSL project. It is important
to note that Mark is a motorcycle trainer in his own
company and was responsible for implementing the Motor
Unit within the Highway Patrol. He has written several
manuals for training both civilian and police riders,
so suffice it to say, he is well qualified to do the
role!
Whilst
with me, he took and completed the Institute of Advanced
Motorist's test and passed. Not bad for a man who had
never rode on the 'wrong side of the road' and had never
seen roundabouts!
Mark
left after a busy week armed with loads of information
and ideas to take back to his own bosses.
Now all we have to do is see if they like it.......................
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