DocBike, a charity that provides rapid response bikes ridden by doctors or critical care paramedics, is launching a campaign to help buck the trend in springtime biker fatalities.<\/p>\n
Working with Dorset Police and Dorset Road Safety Partnership in the UK, DocBike aims to make Dorset\u2019s roads safer for bikers. In Dorset, per mile travelled, more motorcyclists will be killed or critically injured than any other road user. Nationally, approximately 10 motorcyclists are killed or seriously injured every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is, the human brain is not very good at \u2018seeing\u2019 small objects travelling towards it at speed. A high proportion of motorcycle collisions on Dorset roads occur when another vehicle pulls into the path of a motorcycle which is unable to stop in time,\u201d said Dr Ian Mew, Intensive Care Consultant and Rider of DocBike.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, because motorcyclists and cyclists do not have a roll cage, seat belts or air bags, they are often seriously injured or killed when involved in a collision. We want to keep people alive on Dorset\u2019s roads and to do that, we need all road users to be aware of why motorcyclists get knocked off their bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The campaign which is called \u2018Think Bike, Have You Been Seen\u2019, runs from 1st April until 31st October 2021 and will see two different road signs placed in key locations where many motorcyclists have been injured in Dorset to-date.<\/p>\n
The first, \u201cTHINK BIKE\u201d\u00a0reminds all road users to take that extra moment to look for a bike, especially at junctions, where the brain finds it difficult to see motorcyclists travelling towards them at speed.<\/p>\n
The second, \u201cHAVE YOU BEEN SEEN?\u201d\u00a0reminds bikers they might not have been seen by other road users and that even though they have the right of way, being able to stop if a vehicle pulls out in their path might save their life.<\/p>\n