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I had arrived
home at 5pm on Sunday having spent four days as the guest of Inspector
Charles Stewart of the Police Service of Northern Ireland at the
infamous North West 200 road race. How the hell do they do that!
178mph on a 600cc bike and 195mph down a 30mph limit street to a
roundabout where they have to throw a left – barking mad.
Oh, and extremely talented too. It was a non stop visit, supporting
the great work the do with BikeSafe NI over their side of the water.
Their roads are fantastic, none of which are straight. They either
have bends as we know them, or what they call ‘vertical bends’
where the road seems to be straight but it is far from it, resulting
in your bum constantly leaving the saddle – fantastic.
After riding 420 non stop miles from Belfast through Scotland and
down to Hertfordshire I arrived home. Needless to say I spent a
while standing up as I relived a few choice moments of the trip
with my wife and kids, secretly just being glad to have made it
all that way and back without an incident. About a week previously
I had been given authority to fly over to visit Mark Brown a State
Trooper of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol as he had asked
me to assist him in a presentation to his Senior Management Team
(but more of that later).
At 11.30pm Sunday
night I still hadn’t packed, deciding on what the weather
would be like and what trousers would go with what top. Okay, that
last bit is complete rubbish, I was soaking in the bath reading
motorcycle magazines drinking gin and tonic and trying to revive
my numb bum and shoulders.
5.30am came round real quick and waking up was not easy as I hadn’t
gone to sleep until 1am. At 6am I was on my way, choosing not to
get stuck in the ever present M25 traffic mêlée. I
grabbed the my bags, one of which weighs 43lbs and is full of ‘stuff’
I needed for the presentation and the other, weighing in at a measly
28lbs contained my clothes – you have to get your priorities
right don’t you!
Making it to Gatwick at 7.15am, far too early to get the car parked,
so I did a bit of work on the laptop in the car park of an obliging
petrol station.
It was just
as well I did leave that early as at 8am I got call from a friend
of mine who was crawling along on the M25 at Heathrow and was screaming
(on the hands free phone I hasten to add) that he could see crows
hopping down the hard shoulder quicker than he was moving!
| I
flew out on American Airlines arriving at Raleigh/Durham airport
at about 4pm. Whilst I was collecting my bags I heard a surly
voice in what can only be described as a ‘Forrest Gump’
accent say “You need some help with those bags Sir”.
I turned to see Mark who had blagged his way through security
to pick me up. Now Mark is a big man – he was once a WWE
wrestler and still has the physique. To see him with a gun,
chewing gum and blue reflective shades on, I knew I had arrived
in the States! |
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| Into
Mark’s Ford Crown Victoria patrol car and I had a tour
round the local area. It was weird sitting where the steering
wheel should have been but on the wrong side of the road. This
was when I got my first taste of the problems he is facing over
there. The motorcyclists I saw were wearing T-shirts and what
he described as ‘novelty helmets’ These were what
I describe as ‘beanie hats’ and would be suitable
only for keeping fruit in on the sideboard! I saw people dragging
their feet round bends, motocross style, chains hanging off
and totally mad manoeuvring. He told me that, at 16 years old
all a rider has to do is take a written test that lasts about
20 minutes and if they pass they can ride any motorcycle for
18 months without having shown any practical skill whatsoever.
Then, after the 18 months if they are still alive, they do another
written test and demonstrate a modicum of practical skill (not
nearly as much as we do with a CBT) and that is it, they get
a motorcycle endorsement and away they go for the rest of their
lives – madness or what! |
| The first
night we had a pizza the size of West London served with chicken
wings and a cold beer. There goes the diet. These portions paled
into insignificance against the steak I was served the next
night. I was truly monstrous and took a long time to eat. It
was delicious but I thought if I eat like this all week I would
never get back into my motorcycle leathers. Oh what the heck,
go for it! |
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Now
remember earlier I was going to tell you why I was there in
the first place.
Well, Mark had called me about 2 weeks previously and told me
that he had made a short presentation to float the idea of BikeSafe
to his bosses. He had captured their imagination and was going
to be allowed to present the concept of BSL to his Senior Management
Team on May 17th. The team were meeting, as they do very few
months, to discuss projects and goals they want to implement
in the future. It takes the form of a forum called the Quality
Management Board (QMB). All the hierarchy of the Highway Patrol
up to the top man Colonel Clay attend and they vote on proposals.
This meant that he had a one off chance to ‘sell’
the concept to them and if he failed, it would not have continued.
He then asked me, as a person who has been heavily involved
in BikeSafe-London to come over and present with him to the
QMB. That way, he could “set up the pitch and I could
knock it out of the park”. Apparently that is an American
saying for he starts and I finish!
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Mark Working On His Presentation |
The next
few days we spent in the office working on presentations, trawling
through statistics from both sides of the world, putting slides
together then removing them, turning things round and making
it all look professional and pretty. The end result was two
tired officers (up at 0500, in the office by 0630 and leaving
at 2200 each evening) but a ‘kick butt’ presentation. |
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| At
0900 on the 17th I was hidden in a side office as not to show
out before the actual presentation, a bit like ‘show and
tell’ at school. Mark went in to bat and, as he said he
would, set them up. I walked in to much shuffling of paper and
whispers of “why has that person got his stripes on upside
down?” (The NCSHP have their Sergeant stripes on 180 degrees
further round than ours!), and “why is he wearing a jacket
in this heat?” I was on and I pitched it right out of
the park. Telling them of how the Met, City and TfL have got
together to address the loss of life and injury suffered by
our PTW riders. Questions were forthcoming and they seemed to
like the idea a lot. At the end I was presented with a commemorative
coin and a Colonel’s Certificate of Appreciation (like
one of our commendations) for assistance in making North Carolina
a safer place for the motorcycling public. After the presentation
I was surrounded by various senior officers all asking questions
and thanking me for coming all the way over to help. I explained
that Ian Brooks and TfL needed the thanks as they had the foresight
to allow me to go in the first place. |
Capt. Goering
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| Back
in the office I met with Capt Goering who can only be described
as the Chief Inspector Ian Brooks of North Carolina –
he even looks like him - scary! He was a very positive man,
even though he does not care to ride. Full of good ideas and
has a handle on the politics too. I felt that he would be a
very useful member of the newly formed BSNC Team. |
Due to
the help of Capt Briggs I was fortunate enough to get a ride
in the police helicopter over the top of Raleigh and saw some
great sights from 1000 feet up. It was mildly disconcerting
as Marty the pilot took the doors off as he said it was warm
(85 degrees). Banking over at 90 degrees to the ground at
1000 feet with only a lap belt on certainly focuses the mind,
I was amazed that I managed to take any photos at all!
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I
was shown the Motor Driving School where all the officers
go to learn to drive and ride amongst all the normal tourist
stuff. Mark gave me a demonstration of what the officers are
expected to do, I am not sure my neck will ever fully recover! |
On
my last day I was treated to a ‘good old police lunch’.
Chinese food out of cartons and Krispie Kreme donuts courtesy
of First Sergeant Poullen. She proudly showed me her ‘I’ve
met the Met’ sticker in her display cabinet that she
had traded in New York some time ago. I couldn’t believe
they had made it 3883 miles away from the Met. |
Eating At The Office US Style
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Mark's
Patrol Car and Bike |
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A visit to the
Mall and Wal Mart completed my visit, ensuring I had sufficient
presents for my team and family.
In summary, I am
extremely grateful to The Met and TfL for allowing me to go
and to the QMB for allowing me to present London’s case.
The result is that in the next few months North Carolina will
be the first US state to roll out BikeSafe. They hopefully
will not be the only ones to take on the project as other
states will surely follow suit. The fact that they have chosen
BikeSafe-London as a roll model is a personal accolade to
me and my team.
I am sure it will
not stop there, there are other countries in the world that
could benefit from a BikeSafe programme and I will not stop
until the word BikeSafe is internationally known.
Now where is my
atlas I have work to do ………………………
Paul
Mostyn
BikeSafe-London |
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