For the fourth year running the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and Transport for London teamed up to run a stand at the MCN Motorcycle Show at London's Alexandra Palace. The show ran from 28th January through to the 5th February and was well attended by many different motorcyclists and potential motorcyclists alike.

The stand this year showed a distinct good side and bad side of motorcycling with the inclusion of a 'crash scene' and the latest BikeSafe bikes on either side.

Staffed by the permanent BikeSafe-London Team from The Warren and The Ace assisted by reserve officers and London Road Safety Officers, together with staff from TfL, St John Ambulance and, for the first time, officers from the Special Constabulary, the team engaged riders and pillions in topics ranging from "What's the legal stance on dark visors" to "Where's the loo"!

British motorcycle racing legend Chris Walker kindly visited the stand, causing great excitement among the crowds when he spent time giving autographs. What a nice guy, and a strong supporter of BikeSafe.

The crash scene was made up of a Vauxhall Corsa and a Yamaha R1 having collided at a road junction controlled by a give way sign. The car had emerged from the minor road into the path of the R1 who had collided with the front offside of the car. The rider had been thrown from the bike and his helmet had hit the windscreen in front of the drivers face and come off. The rider had then been thrown off the bonnet onto the road.

The question asked by many of the visitors to the stand was "Who's fault was it then". The answer was "Does it matter, the biker always comes off worse". The display was put together to compliment the new DfT Think! campaign, launched on Monday 30th January, asking drivers to look out for motorcyclists when emerging from junctions.

The right turn scenario is common amongst collisions in London accounting for about 24%. Riders were both glad to see the display, as it showed the need to take further training and not so glad as, for some, they did not feel a motorcycle show was the place to see such a scenario. Sergeant Mostyn of the Motorcycle Tasking Team said "I am happy that people are reacting to the scene in a positive or negative way, as either way, they are talking about road safety. We did not put the display on to shock people, but to make them realise that although motorcycling is fun, riders are vulnerable".

The scene was complimented by several real life scenarios compiled by the Collision Investigation Unit at Alperton Traffic Garage and depicted what happens when both the motorcyclist and the car driver gets it wrong.

The Police and TfL were happy to work with representatives of the St John Ambulance service again this year and their fast response motorcycle made up part of the collision scene. St John are offering a bespoke 1st Aid course for motorcyclists and it is being well received throughout the industry.

On the other side of the stand the display included the 'BikeSafe Bike', a black Yamaha R1 sponsored by Rex Judd. This was the second year the R1 was put on the stand, but it can still turn heads and gather a crowd. Next to that, and placed there to encourage conversation, was a Harley Davidson Road King Police. This 'larger than life' piece of machinery was loaned to the team for evaluation just prior to the show. At time of print, the jury is out as to whether it is "only good for pulling ploughs" or "a right laugh". Either way, it's a pain to polish after riding it on London's salt ridden roads!

Next to that was a Hawk Kawasaki race bike that had be leant to BikeSafe-London by Kawasaki UK. Again this proved to be of great interest to visitors, as it was next to the 2006 Kawasaki ZX10R in 'understated green'! Visitors could be seen comparing bikes and making lists of parts they wanted to put on their bikes as they had seen on the Hawk bike.

There were static displays giving information about BikeSafe across the country (www.bikesafe.co.uk) and visitors from far and wide were registering their interest for a rider skills day whether it was in London, the Home Counties or even Scotland and Ireland. This year a new computer registration system was used. This enabled to team to process the applications quicker and by the end of the show over 100 people had already been contacted and booked a place.

Moped and Scooter safety was addressed with a 'Dangerous Games' (www.dangerousgames.co.uk) and 'Moped Safety' (www.mopedsafety.com) and seemed to be popular with the younger riders and their parents.

During the nine days of the show over 1300 riders registered their interest in attending a BikeSafe day with participating police forces across the country, showing that riders are still keen to engage with the police and take assessed rides before taking up further training.