Category: Safety & Compensation

1. BikeSafe clients encouraged to take off-road training

   Posted on 11:00am Wednesday 13th Aug 2014

   BikeSafe is partnering with Kawasaki to offer a bespoke off-road skills course, which will help improve road riding.

   The BikeSafe Off Road Skills Course will be delivered by Kawasaki Off Road Experience trainers, who include Mick Extance - former Paris-Dakar competitor and motocross champion Lee Dunham. The course will be offered initially in 5 UK locations, with extra ones added in time.

   In addition to the usual fun guaranteed in taking part in an off-road experience day, the BikeSafe Off-Road Skills Course will cover areas such as:

   · Fine brake and clutch control

   · Riding on slippery surfaces

   · Body positioning

   · Ascent and descent control

   National BikeSafe Coordinator Glen Dennis explained:

   “Off-road riding offers lots of opportunities to control a machine in conditions you generally hope to avoid on public highways. We believe skills learned off-road are invaluable for road riders and will enhance a road rider’s ability to deal with unexpected road conditions”.

   The course is available to those who hold a full motorcycle licence and includes hire of the bike, plus any safety equipment. It costs £200 for a full day’s tuition and riding, with a 10% discount for people who have done a BikeSafe assessment. Riders will receive an accreditation certificate signed by Kawasaki and Bikesafe upon successful completion of the one day course.

   Mark Spiller, Marketing Manager for Kawasaki Motors UK commented, “We are very happy to work alongside BikeSafe on this forward thinking and important initiative. At Kawasaki we are passionate about both off-roading and road safety and this combines the fun of dirt riding with practical safety benefits for road riders”.

   You can find out more from the BikeSafe Kawasaki Off-Road Skills Course website: www.kawasaki-bikesafe.co.uk

   See the video

2. Anger over the state of Westbury’s roads

   Posted on 12:38pm Wednesday 21st May 2014

   Anger is mounting in the town over the state of Westbury’s roads and the growing number of dangerous potholes.

   The issue was aggravated by the wet winter and now there have been calls for Wiltshire Council to act. There are also concerns that Wiltshire Council have ‘cut corners’ with temporary repairs that only last a few days.

   New Westbury Mayor, cllr Christine Mitchell said, “The potholes are atrocious in Westbury, something needs to be done. The potholes can’t always be avoided, it is an accident waiting to happen. If there is water in the potholes then it is difficult for cyclists or motorcyclists to know how deep the hole is. I can’t say it is only Wiltshire though, it seems to be bad in other counties as well.”

   Wiltshire Council had 40 percent more potholes reported in the first two months of 2014 compared to 2013. This equates to more than 2,600 carriageway defects compared to around 1,900 last year. This led to the council investing an extra £250,000 at the start of 2014 to combat the problem.

   Wiltshire councillor Terry Chivers says he believes that Wiltshire Council cut corners when trying to fix the potholes. He said, “I’m receiving complaints that these temporary repairs are only lasting a few days and often only a few hours. It seems to me and to most people, that it must be much easier and cheaper to do a proper job than bodge it.”

   There is some good news on the horizon, though, after Wiltshire Council was awarded an extra £3million to repair potholes. This is part of the £168million Pothole Repair Fund the government has allocated towards fixing more than three million potholes across the UK to make roads safer and smoother for motorists, cyclists and other road users.

   However, the priorities for pothole repair have not yet been set and so it is unclear if Westbury will be benefitting from the Pothole Repair Fund.

   A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council said, “This money will be used to repair and resurface the worst affected stretches of road. Wiltshire Council are spending a huge amount of money on roads but the full programme for this has not yet been set.

   To report a pothole or a street problem to your council please CLICK HERE

   

3. Filtering

   Posted on 1:29pm Friday 25th Apr 2014

   IAM’s head of riding standards and advanced biker, Peter Rodger, is advising on filtering.
   
   •Plan ahead when approaching long queues. Make a decision in advance for passing each vehicle, but be ready to change your plans if the traffic situation changes
   •Be prepared for vehicles to move out or change lanes, particularly approaching junctions
   •In bus lanes, watch for cars that want to turn left across your path
   •Be aware of cyclists wearing earphones – they may not know you’re there
   •Watch side roads. Drivers waiting to emerge will be looking for larger vehicles – not necessarily a motorbike
   •When filtering give other vehicles time to notice you’re there – don’t arrive too quickly
   •Wait behind stationary vehicles unless you're sure you can get past them before they start to move. – avoid sitting next to them where you can be in a blind spot.

   Rodger said: “One of the great things about riding a bike is that you can reduce your journey time by filtering through traffic and congestion. But be considerate to other road users, and bear in mind they may not know or expect you to be there.”

4. Website “Street Repairs” Expands Public Reach To Help Fix Britain

   Posted on 9:00am Friday 11th Apr 2014

   The developers of the online neighbourhood-problem reporting system, Street Repairs, have taken a further step towards linking local people to their local councils, with the launch of a free website API plug-in.

   By installing the plug-in, website owners can assist with the number of faults reported to councils and gain access to key data including images, trends, hotspots, the number of unresolved problems, and the time taken to complete repairs.

   Street Repairs is an intuitive online tool that enables residents to report street maintenance and repair issues via their mobile phone, at no charge. If something needs fixing such as potholes, street lighting, or fly tipping, local residents can report it quickly and easily to their local council via Street Repairs in real time, then receive instant progress updates via text message and email. This unique information gathering, monitoring and reporting system enables residents to more easily connect with their local council, empowering them to make changes in their neighbourhood. Local councils can integrate the Street Repairs system with their own internal processes to more efficiently record faults, prioritise maintenance issues, plan improvements and report progress.

   Mr Colin Mahoney, software developer and MD of the non-profit system, said "streetrepairs.co.uk API plug-in will raise the online profile of Street Repairs and make information on street maintenance problems more widely available, which in turn will encourage residents, councils and key influential organisations to work together to fix Britain's streets".

   Since its launch just a few months ago, Street Repair's popularity has exploded among members of the public via social media. It now has thousands of facebook fans and is receiving hundreds of detailed reports from concerned members of the public.

   By installing the free API plug-in on their website, newspapers, community organisations, cycling groups, and other interested website owners, can encourage their audience to engage with local authorities, to improve their neighbourhood and community.

   The new plug-in gives an unprecedented level of access to analytical data on a local and national level on the condition of our neighbourhoods. Data can be accessed in real time, and reports can be compiled instantly.

   Analysis of the number and types of reports made, issues resolved, and images submitted, can identify local trends, such as the impact of a rising population, or budget cuts. This information can be reported back to the community, or used to assist the local council to make improvements.

   The plug-in is free to install and use, and the Street Repairs team are available to give full technical support if needed. The cloud-based system will have minimal impact on the host website, and requires limited expertise to integrate. Once installed, residents will be able to report street maintenance problems to the local council via the plug-in, and the website owner will have access to all the data about reported problems, at no charge.

   With the help of Street Repairs www.streetrepairs.co.uk/problems, local residents, local organisations and local councils can work together to fix their local environment. The new API plug-in makes it easier than ever to report neighbourhood-problems, and at the same time the plug-in provides data to community organisations who may be able to use the reports to influence local council policies and standards. The websites exists and funds itself thanks to generous sponsors.

5. Public Can Now Report a Street Problem in Under 2 Minutes

   Posted on 10:30am Wednesday 2nd Apr 2014

   Street Repairs is a brand new way of linking local people to local authorities, councils, and highway transport bodies on a nationwide scale.

   It empowers residents to improve their local environment while saving local authorities money on maintenance and administrative costs. The publicly accessible, free-to-use transparent reporting and monitoring system, hands power over to local residents by making it easy to report faults and track the council's progress in addressing them.

   The Street Repairs website is used to capture information about street maintenance issues such as broken pavements, rubbish, street lighting and potholes. Residents can reclaim local streets and work with their council to keep them clean, tidy and safely maintained.

   To submit a report the user simply completes a few simple fields, including the uploading of photos and a brief description of the defect. The built-in geo tracking automatically identifies the user's location and provides exact coordinates which are then overlaid onto a map. This process takes just a couple of minutes and there is no fee to the fault-reporter (normal data handling charges from their service provider apply). Confirmation of the report is sent immediately to both the reporter and the council in question. Regular updates are then made as the report is processed by the council.

   Another big advantage is that the system encourages early reporting of problems, when they are cheaper to fix, thus reducing higher costs to councils.

   Colin Mahoney, the IT Developer behind streetrepairs.co.uk, designed the reporting system to boost engagement between local people and local councils. Evolution of the system is continuing on a daily basis as his team of software developers fine-tune functionality. He stated: "By making the reporting and progress tracking system transparent and freely accessible to the public, residents are now empowered to improve their local environment by flagging faults as the system chases progress updates from the local authorities."

   www.streetrepairs.co.uk