9 replies to this topic

[jiff]

.....a pal and I did a BikeSafe Course last week......thought I'd report in, in case anyone might be considering it.....?
For those who are unaware..... ' BikeSafe ' is run by various local police forces throughout the country, and is described (roughly) as a rider awareness day, during which your riding is assessed by experienced police riders, advice given, where appropriate, on ways where improvements can be made, and you also get to ride with said coppers-on-bikes to see how they do it......and more.

First, some clarification.... It was made abundantly clear that any perception of 'Old Bill feeling my collar' was not where we were at.........it was apparent that the coppers wished to be regarded as
'just blokes'.......who happened to have knowledge & skills to share.......that they certainly weren't looking to 'nick' you, though that didn't imply that you were, in any way, free to break the law with impunity. If you were riding badly you'd be advised, when appropriate, what improvements could be made, and if you rode dangerously....in extremis....they might also, legal sanctions aside, refuse to ride with you.
The day started with a talk, for about an hour, illustrated in a 'powerpoint' sorta way, which revolved around typical hazards that bikers in particular need to be aware of, and how to deal with those hazards, both in terms of your own and other peoples safety. The topics covered were roughly those dealt with in 'Roadcraft', which is the (highly regarded) police drivers manual....though the BikeSafe presentation was much more lively, & less turgid, & obviously, in the limited time available, comprised 'edited highlights'.....All the while it was acknowledged that, as bikers, we always wanted to 'make progress' as swiftly as possible, and that was acceptable......within the law, naturally! The whole thing was pretty relaxed and informal, as was a Q & A session which followed ......for clarification of any points that we punters felt necessary
Particularly interesting bits related to the police views on things like 'filtering', bus lane usage,
bicycle safety zones, and also covered were general topics such as road positioning and lines to take through corners etc.......and the likely consequences of getting it wrong.......much of which was not news to most of the attendees, and mirrored the sort of topic dealt with on IAM or ROSPA courses.......but for less experienced riders, or as a refresher for those who think they know it all
& don't recognise their acquired bad habits......was pretty useful. It was clear that one intention is to encourage you to pursue further training......IAM, ROSPA or whatever...

We then went on a ride, separated off into one or two punters with each police rider, for about ninety minutes plus, into an urban environment.......to see how we managed in the light of the info we'd been given.
How it worked was one punter took the lead, followed by the police rider, the other punter bringing up the rear..... who then took over the lead for the second half of the ride. The route was indicated by agreed hand signals from the copper, demanding constant attention to the mirrors from the 'leader'.........

Then stop for lunch......(included in the cost of the course).......and a chat.......

Then the second ride, about the same duration and system, but this time focussing on country roads, dual carriageways etc, ,'fast progress' (and motorway....where appropriate......)

Then back to base.......a verbal assessment of each rider, one to one, by the accompanying police motorcyclist, a bit of discussion.........and summarising, and the delivery of a more in-depth written assessment, dealing with individual good and bad points, and suggestions as to how things could be improved.
At no time did I or my pal feel under pressure from having a copper over our shoulder, or in our earhole......considerable effort having been made to make clear that the process was meant to be relaxed & non-competitive, and that there was no pressure to live up to some arbitrary standard...
......and above all we were meant to enjoy, have fun and learn from it......
The course we did was run by BikeSafe London, and costs £45 for one person, or £75 for two.

My reaction?..........Overall, a great day, not perfect, but well worth it.
...... to be reminded of quite a few things I'd forgotten, and introduced to one or two things
I never knew.......I learnt stuff, and I hope my riding continues to profit from the experience. It was fun and also interesting to ride fast (by my standards) in company with someone I KNEW I could trust.....

[muddy]

So, out of interest, what was the bike cops view on filtering, bus lane usage and bike safety zones?

[jdelfino]

The course we did was run by BikeSafe London, and costs £45 for one person, or £75 for two.
 

 

any coffee, tea or cake with it? 

[jiff]

.......discussion on these topics fell into two areas...

- what the law says, and (the subtext) areas in which the officer has room to interpret road-users behaviour, in the context of whether or not an offence might have been committed.......
&
- what hazards these situations pose, both for motorcyclists and other road users who might be effected by our behaviour....

in the first instance above, and in cases where the law is unequivocal, even if the officer thinks it's a 'badly constructed' law, like the design of bicycle safety boxes at traffic lights for instance, then, in that situation, if a biker is observed to have stopped in the box , they are quite liable to be nicked.........of course, it is possible for the officer to 'not see' an offence being committed..........
In theory likewise, overtaking on a zigzag line, though in practice slightly less so, if the biker was perceived to be paying attention and not being cavalier......but don't rely on it!
Similarly, implementation of bus-lane regs. is usually left to CCTV(on buses!) for enforcement, except in the case of dangerous behaviour, like excess speed, weaving in and out, or being inconsiderate to other road users.
Filtering is not illegal, unless it involves the breaking of other laws, disobeying road markings for instance, or speed restrictions, but in the case of a coming together, it can easily be made to appear, especially in the eyes of a 70year old magistrate, as if the 'speed -crazed' biker was behaving in a dangerously anti-social manner, & thus was totally / largely to blame for the collision.......irrespective of the behaviour of the other 'law abiding' citizen involved....my guess would be that a police rider might incline to weight the balance slightly back in the bikers favour........
........and so on
The main focus of The Course, however, was on the awareness of and avoidance of hazards, on the basis of a 'system' of how to proceed, which is, or is based on, that proposed by the IAM........IPSGA.......(information,position,speed,gear,acceleration)..........so, without going into mind-numbing detail, applying that system to any of the above situations, not only would give us the best chance of avoiding adverse situations, but also of attracting disapproving attention from The Bill.........yeah!yeah,....I know it sounds boring and nerdilly up its' own bum......but, sloganising aside, when applied practically , it makes complete sense......

For instance......when filtering.......concentrate on where sources of danger might arise from......gaps between vehicles, pedestrians feet visible beneath cars, sudden changes of direction, or threats of same, from vehicles 'in the queue' etc .etc,...... leave as much space between yourself and all other sources of danger as you can, don't ghost down in touching-distance of the queues' door mirrors, sit out in the middle of the road if nothing's coming etc, leaving yourself more room to avoid unexpected happenings and standing out visually from the queue, as seen in everyones mirror,.......don't filter at any more than 15 mph when the queue is stationary, and if its moving, the faster it's going the less justifiable filtering might be thought to be etc......be in the right gear, so opening or closing the throttle has a usefully instant effect on your speed ........and, when the manoeuvre is completed, get out of everyones way......safely.....

Sorry if this was boring, or obvious or both.......but I found the very familiarity of the considerations re-sharpened my focus.....and sent me home refreshed and intent on erasing some of the sloppy stuff that had crept in over the last forty years...when I wasn't paying quite as much attention as I might have been.........

Jiff.

[jiff]

any coffee, tea or cake with it? 

....there was coffee, which I think we were meant to pay for, but were 'let off' , likewise cake etc, theoretically on sale at this venue...
........but, as I said.........in this case, there WAS such a thing as a free lunch

.....Jiff

[Matt101]

I have done 2 of these. They are a great way to get an assessment of your skills and get advised by someone trained to a high level. The slow test around cones on a car park with west mids was an eye opener. I would recommend it to anyone!

[muddy]

Hmmm, I've got into a habit of using the green bicycle boxes without thinking about it too much. It's often the only space left at the front and I have a rule of thumb that it's safer to be out of the way of other vehicles as quickly as possible rather than be among them, especially if I'm going to make a right.

The filtering advice I more or less follow.

[jiff]

.......... The slow test around cones on a car park with west mids was an eye opener. I would recommend it to anyone!

.........the absence of this sort of thing was one of my reasons for being 'less than ecstatic' after the course which we did......which only goes to illustrate that maybe the content of each course is possibly left to the local police authority that puts it on , or even the bunch of guys that run it (?)

Hmmm, I've got into a habit of using the green bicycle boxes without thinking about it too much. It's often the only space left at the front and I have a rule of thumb that it's safer to be out of the way of other vehicles as quickly as possible rather than be among them, especially if I'm going to make a right..........

........I'd guess that the coppers that ran the course that we attended would tend to understand your preference,........they seemed to feel that the cycle safety boxes are ill-conceived, and that the idea of encouraging the slowest moving and virtually ungovernable group of road users to form a phalanx at the front of a mass of traffic, creating a potentially obstructive blockage of the entire width of the lane, does not make the best sense.........but it's the law that all powered road users must not occupy that space.....so contravention makes us liable for a smack.......
I tend, in the absence of cyclists occupying the extreme back corners of the box, to just poke my front wheel into it, especially after having filtered down the outside/inside of a queue of traffic up to a red light.......it allows me to imply precedence over the front car/truck
and then to get away smart-ish....but this has its' questionable aspects / dangers too.....especially in the presence of a resentful / aggressive driver at the front of the queue.....!

Jiff

[muddy]

I tend, in the absence of cyclists occupying the extreme back corners of the box, to just poke my front wheel into it, especially after having filtered down the outside/inside of a queue of traffic up to a red light.......it allows me to imply precedence over the front car/truck
and then to get away smart-ish....but this has its' questionable aspects / dangers too.....especially in the presence of a resentful / aggressive driver at the front of the queue.....!
Jiff

 

About 6 months ago I learnt a lesson resulting from just that. I filtered to the head of a queue on a roundabout red light and on entering the pit-holed, single lane slip road for the M25 ahead of the traffic, was overtaken and only narrowly missed by a clearly incensed Mondeo driver. I was just moving towards a more central posistion after avoiding the poor road surface and would've hit him if I hadn't have 'felt' the car presence. I was so peed off myself I chased him at 100+ mph and to give him some gesture clues as to what I thought of his driving. I now try, wherever possible, to boss the lane and take up a commanding position. I'll only consider I've made real progress though is when I stop reacting maniacally to other maniacs.

[Bobos]

Did one a few years ago, well worth the time and free in Leicester. Changed where I position myself on the road totally and saved me from a smash only two weeks after doing it. One highlight was when we got on the motorway; the instruction was "if we ride at 70mph drivers to slow down because of the police bike, which causes chaos, so we either do 50mph or 80mph" can you guess what we did? You could see drivers double checking their mirrors as two bikes at a little more than 80 followed closely by a police bike went past.