BikeSafe London

We landed at JFK and the sun was shining. We stepped outside to smoke our pipes. And take the opportunity to be ‘tourists’ by taking photos of yellow cabs and large unnecessary vehicles as they drove past. We must have looked like something out of a Sherlock Holmes convention to the locals.

The connecting flight up to Raleigh was in what can only be described as a ‘sausage with wings’ as it was only just bigger than a private jet. After having all the space in the world on the fist leg of the flight it was a bit disconcerting to have to sit that close to each other and to have your knees back up under your chin for another 2 hours flight down the east coast.

Paul pointing out the small plane - please note the fashionable shirt that is NOT pink (but does make him look fat).

Arriving in Raleigh we were met by a typical English sight - rain!
It was chucking it down, but Mark was there to pick us and to take us….., where do you think, was it to his house to freshen up, was it a bar to have a drink and a chat, no, it was to the office to start work..! We eventually left the office and got to Mark’s house and after having a drink and catching up on what had been going on for the past year, we crashed out. It was later that we worked out we had been awake for 26 hours. No wonder we slept well.

But not for long. Mark woke us at 0600 ready to go back to the office. After meeting up with what seemed like a hundred people (we were a bit of a novelty over there you know) we arrived back in the office. During that day we were busy going through Mark’s presentations, documentation for the class and all the timings of how the day was going to flow. We also had to go and see the route to make sure it was suitable and of the correct length. This is Mick moving bikes around.

The day went past in a blur of activity, phone calls and making sure everything was in place for the launch date. Mark had really done a lot of work and we were very impressed at the support he had received from many of his peers.
That evening we met with representatives of the Department of Transport who have pledged their support to the project. They had allowed Mark a grant to purchase his posters and flyers and have since agreed to continue funding for the pilot year.

The day of the launch was another early start. At 0500 we were up and back off to the office for the final check that everything was ready to meet the riders and officers at 0800. We were picked up in what can only be described as a ‘Monster Truck’ (a Chevy Tahoe); well it was bigger than our police cars anyway.

Mick insisted on having his picture taken next to it to show to his son when we got back home.

As the time the public were due to come got closer, the officers started to arrive at the office. Mark had not only arranged for the NCSHP Motor Officers who were actually doing the assessments to attend, but he had invited others from the surrounding counties together with others from the local Police Department to come and be observers during the day. I got an opportunity to speak with many of them and got the overall feeling that they were supportive of the concept of BikeSafe, but were not totally sold on the idea that this was a police lead initiative, saying that they were unsure whether they could make a difference to the riding attitudes of the public, just by assessing their ride. We did our best to allay their fears and explained how the concept was working all across the UK.

I had been asked to brief the Motor Officers at the beginning of the day to make sure that they knew what was expected of them. They were to meet their riders, go through a POWDER (Petrol Oil Water Damage/Drive Electrics Rubber) check on their vehicles and inspect their documents, just as we do in the UK. I welcomed them and thanked them for their commitment to BikeSafe. I went through their briefing packs and asked them to be honest with their critiques of the riders, touching on how we give an overall assessment as opposed to picking on individual incidents that may occur during the ride out.

Mark then became a star. He is totally at home teaching a class, with a loud and confident voice, I suppose coming from the fact that he is as passionate about what he is doing as we are. He introduced the class and made everyone feel welcome. There were a few formal introductions and we were paraded out the front to meet Colonel Clay who heads up the NCSHP. Mick made a speech and drew similarities with BikeSafe-London to BikeSafe North Carolina. He then presented the Colonel with a Metropolitan Police crest and after the statutory hand shaking and back patting session, the first BSNC day got underway.

As I made myself unobtrusive at the back I was able to watch the public get involved in the presentations. They asked relevant questions and challenged some of the comments, putting their side of the arguments in an intelligent way. They were willing to learn and interacted completely as the lectures rolled out. Many were taking notes and one man was copying relevant points straight on to his laptop. They all seemed to be very positive and for me it was just like a day at The Ace Café, just a lot warmer outside!

The ride-outs went very well. After a few wrong turns by the customers, we all managed to get on the right route and start the business of assessing their ride.

The two routes were picked to expose the rider to as many of the hazards out there that was possible. These included four lane highways, level crossings, bends (or curves as they call them), traffic movement hazards, stop signs, traffic lights and long sections out into the country.

As we came across a set of temporary traffic signals, I positioned myself to start to filter only to remember that it is illegal in North Carolina. As I sat for 18 minutes (yes I know I timed it - I am sad) waiting for my turn to pas through the road works in full motorcycle gear in 98 degrees of sunshine, I thanked the UK legislators for their filtering concession and started to formulate an argument to bring it to the US. How do they manage when it gets really hot? (Apparently the motorcycle season is cut short due to the extreme heat of the summer - wow it would have to be really hot to get me off a bike).

When we got back after the rides I went around listening to the Troopers de-briefing their riders. It was just like listening to any one of the BikeSafe-London team. Observation, positions and gears came up over and over again, with the Troopers offering advice, tips and hints together with encouragement for the rider to take some form of further training. Whether it was to take a ‘cone course’ or some form of track based training scheme, they all seemed to know what they were doing and the customers were listening avidly to their every word.

Back in the classroom they were given refreshments and then asked to complete a questionnaire on how they thought the day went, any improvements that could be made and anything they would like taken out of the course. Without exception, they all wrote that it was fantastic with comments like “This is long overdue”, “Great day, I have been riding for years, but still learnt a lot” and “The Troopers were fantastic, they really know what they are doing” BikeSafe-North Carolina day one had been a roaring success.

We spent the next day at a Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) rally and spread the word about BikeSafe-NC where we could. Mark and his friend Brian Sprinkle then treated us all to a demonstration of how to manoeuvre a bike through a tight cone course, it was truly a sight to see and shows they both have fantastic machine control.

For most of the day, Mark was receiving calls, emails and texts from not only the people who had been on the course, but those who had seen what had been going on and those who had heard that it had been going on. I even got to chat with a Trooper from the Californian State Highway Patrol (a real ChiPs man). Don’t tell anyone, but I think there may be another trip in the offing….

After the statutory shop for gifts to placate the wives and kids (involving the purchase of perfumes, jewellery and several toys) the trip home was an adventure in itself. The whole east coast suffered massive thunderstorms and to cut a long story short, Mick and I ended up in Chicago on a 48-hour lay over. We made the most of it by visiting the usual sights...

You may well recognise the Sears Tower, the view of Chicago from the top and the scene from the car chase in Bullet or the El (not sure if that is how you spell it) than ran past Elwood’s apartment in The Blues Brothers film.

We eventually got home on Tuesday evening and collapsed into a heap at our respective houses. We had enjoyed a ‘full on’ trip, working many hours each day (no overtime claimed by the way) but both had an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that we had been part of something special. BikeSafe had gone International and we had been there to see it happen.

We were both very confident that the BikeSafe name was in good hands with Mark and his team of Troopers and that the BikeSafe-London model was now helping riders 4000 miles away to become safer. Well done to all concerned.

If you ever find yourself with a bike in North Carolina, be sure to look Mark and his team up and maybe even have a go at his BikeSafe. As we ALL say, ‘The best modification you can make to your machine is to improve the ability of its rider’

Find out more about BSNC at www.nccrimecontrol.org

Great finds