Pc Kevin Stark has been riding motorbikes since he was 16 years old. As a police motorcyclist and instructor with Suffolk Police, he covers around 10,000 miles per year on the county’s roads. onesuffolk talks to Pc Stark about life as a police motorcyclist and the BikeSafe workshops that aim to make riders safer and improve their riding ability…

“I joined the Roads Policing Unit in 1998 and shortly after that, as an already experienced rider, I took the police standard motorcycle training course followed by the advanced course a couple of years later. As a bike enthusiast, being a police motorcyclist is the perfect job - you get the very best of training and the opportunity to do something you enjoy every day.”

Pc Stark is also a collision investigator and is very aware of the sad loss of life on the county’s roads.

“Up to 8th August this year there have been 28 fatal collisions on Suffolk’s roads with six of those involving motorcycle fatalities. My interest is in promoting road safety and trying to prevent any needless loss of life on the roads. If I can assist in ‘bridging the gap’ between riders passing their tests and developing their knowledge of enjoying their machines safely then I will. The BikeSafe workshops enable this to happen.”

The workshops have been running in Suffolk since 2004 so are relatively new in this area. The course consists of a mix of classroom sessions on subjects such as road positioning, cornering and first aid as well as an escorted ride out with a Class 1 Police Motorcyclist. After observation, each rider is provided with an accurate and personalised assessment of their riding skills.

“During the first year, we were planning to run two workshops, but after working in partnership with Suffolk County Council, we ended up running four workshops as well as an additional two for the army. We now run seven workshops a year along with two tailored for the army.”

“People tend to find out about the workshops by word of mouth but we also promote road safety at events such as the Suffolk Show. The workshop costs £55.00 per rider and is suitable for all riders regardless of biking experience but they must hold a full bike licence. We usually get around 15 riders per workshop with a good mix of both male and female riders.”

Pc Stark continues, “Suffolk County Council have also set-up a website at suffolkride.net, to compliment the BikeSafe scheme in Suffolk. It’s a network of organisations and individuals in Suffolk who are all interested in motorcycling and there’s a place on the site to add your favourite route in Suffolk and you can find out about local biking events too.”

As a national campaign, BikeSafe also runs other events across the UK.

“In March 2008, there is a BikeSafe Motorcycle show taking place at the Metropolitan Police Training School in Hendon. It’s a huge free event and all the bike manufacturers will be there with the latest bikes. The good thing is that you can turn up, put your name on a list and choose a bike you’d like to take out. You then get the opportunity to take your chosen bike out on a set route for a 15 minute assessed ride with a police motorcyclist.”

The BikeSafe campaign in Suffolk has one simple aim…to reduce motorcycle casualties.

“There are nine bikes in total within Suffolk Police, so it’s a big commitment from us to run the workshops with up to 6 Police Motorcyclists going out to observe riders, but if it saves just one life then it’s worth it”.

“Most people don’t get the opportunity to talk to a police motorcyclist unless they’ve been pulled up at the side of the road. The workshops are run in a conflict free environment where education is the key, not enforcement and we hope that by educating bikers, they will become both safer and better riders.”

But, what’s it like to take part in a BikeSafe workshop? Julie Orford finds out more…

It’s Friday night and two mates and myself head off to Martlesham Police HQ for the first part of the workshop. After signing a disclaimer we choose a seat with a BikeSafe rucksack draped over the back. A quick look in the bag reveals lots of BikeSafe goodies, which is a pretty good start to the evening!

Pc Stark introduces himself to the group and gives us a brief summary of the workshop, which is based on the principles of Roadcraft (the Police riders handbook). Then follows a talk with video and computer generated clips of common biker scenarios, covering what went wrong and how it could have been prevented. There was some really useful advice to be had on road positioning, hazard awareness, speed and cornering which geared us all up ready for our observed ride-out the next morning. A very relaxed and informative evening.

Saturday morning arrives, the sun is shining and the roads are dry, a perfect day for a ride. I put on my new BikeSafe ‘neckie’ and after filling up with petrol head off to Police HQ. On arrival it seems that everyone is a little nervous, I guess it’s not everyday you volunteer to be followed by a marked police bike.

We have a quick cup of tea while we’re briefed about the ride and assigned our route and police rider for the day. I’m put with Pc Stark along with my mate Sharmaine as we’re both on the same type of bikes, CBR 600. Pc Stark gave us both a rough guide to the route and told us that we would only know where we were meant to be going by watching in our mirrors for him to indicate. The theory being, that at every hazard you should be aware of what is behind you, ie a road junction can be considered a potential hazard so a glance in your mirror as you approach is a good observation skill.

Sharmaine decided to go first so she headed off in front, closely followed by Pc Stark and then myself. You can learn quite a lot from following a police motorcyclist!

We stopped in a car park just outside Hadleigh and Sharmaine was given a briefing as to how she had ridden so far, then it was my turn to go in front. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be but there was a lot to take in and put into practice.

We’d been told there would be no exemption from speeding on the day. I was very aware of this, but about 10 minutes into my ride I missed seeing a national speed limit sign at a big junction. Not knowing what to do, I played it safe and kept it to 30mph. I was a bit annoyed with myself for missing it as there were some really nice ‘twisties’ to be had on the road I was on, I guess I should have put two and two together and noticed there were no repeater signs and no streetlights but you never know with some of these funny roads we have in Suffolk. It wasn’t all bad though as I was able to concentrate more on my positioning and smoothness at a slower pace. My ride ended at Wally’s Café where we stopped for a quick refreshment break and a brief chat about my ride so far, and yes, he had noticed I’d missed the sign!

Sharmaine headed out again for her next observed ride and we stopped for a debrief in a layby on the A12, (I bet everyone that passed us thought we were being nicked). It was then my second ride, I was determined this time not to miss any speed limit signs although Sharmaine informed me later that I’d missed Pc Stark indicating at one point, whoops. I felt this was a slightly better ride, a bit faster although probably not as accurate as the first ride from a point of view of road positioning. I managed to get in two single carriageway overtakes, one better than the other, and also some filtering at the Copdock roundabout.

We arrived back at police HQ and I was given a debrief over lunch on my second observed ride. My filtering had been ‘text book’, but I’d got a bit too close to the car in front when I finally stopped filtering. Pc Stark explained that if, for example, the car had broken down, I hadn’t left myself much room for manoeuvring around it. A good point that’s now been noted.

We were given our written personal observation reports shortly after that to take away and I was pleased to see I‘d scored ‘very good’ and ‘good’ in most cases although there is still significant room for improvement.

During lunch, Suffolk Advanced Motorcyclists were there with information about the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) and the training that they offer. Then in the afternoon, we were given an emergency aid talk by St John Ambulance specifically aimed at bikers. One of the things we were given in our goodie bags was a BikeSafe keyring which contained a resuscitation face shield, a really good idea and something that’s good to carry at all times but hopefully not something we’ll ever need to use.

I really enjoyed the Bike Safe workshop, it was good fun and I learnt loads of stuff about being a safer rider, being more aware of hazards and trusting your instincts. It’s a shame it all seemed to be over so quickly as I would have loved to go out again and put more of what I had learnt into practice under observation. It has inspired me to look into taking some advanced training with a view to passing the advanced motorcycle test.

There are probably many bikers out there who’ve been riding for years and think there is nothing more they can learn but I’d say they are wrong. It really is worthwhile doing the workshop, and who knows, something you pick up on the day may just save your life.

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