An evaluation of Bikesafe Scotland, which provides a police classroom theory and assessed ride programme free to all holders of a full motorcycling licence in Scotland, is described. 92% of participants were male and 67% were in the 35-54 age range. 76% also drove cars. 29% of participants acquired their motocycle licences when aged 35 or over, while a fifth had returned to riding in the last five years after a break of a year or more. 19% had been involved in a motorcycle accident while riding in the previous three years. 50% of these accidents were single vehicle accidents and 29% involved serious injury. Motorcyclists who had experienced enforcement activity in the last three years were more likely to have had an accident during that time period. Whiel the proportion of participants saying that they would normally ride below the speed limit in built-up area increased after participation in Bikesafe, the proportion saying that they would ride above the speed limit on faster roads in non built up areas also increased. Since there is a high proportion of fatal and serious accidents in non built up areas, this may represent an unintended risk compensation effect of the training scheme. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124157.
Samenvatting