A new government-backed website aims to cut the number of motorcycle crashes by encouraging riders to record details of their accidents on a map of Britain. The Highways Agency, which is funding the project, says the map will become the most comprehensive guide to accident black spots available. The website will include existing motorbike crash data from 2003 (the most recent available) as well as information added by bikers about their own accidents.
A blue square symbol represents an accident involving serious injury, a red triangle highlights a fatality and a yellow triangle indicates difficult bends or junctions where riders came off their bikes or had collisions.
The Department for Transport hopes motorcyclists will use the site to assess the dangers of a particular stretch of road and drive more carefully through accident blackspots. Information will also be passed to highways authorities to encourage changes in the engineering or maintenance of problem areas.
Motorcycles make up less than 1% of vehicle traffic but riders account for 14% of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads. Fatal accidents involving motorcyclists increased by 15% between 2002 and 2003, according to the latest Department for Transport statistics.
“We want to reach the more mature leisure bikers who seem to be involved in an unusually high number of accidents,” said Stuart Lovatt, road safety action plan co-ordinator for the Highways Agency. “We need to embrace new ideas to interact with this group.”
Related Linkswww.handleitorloseit.comCreditdriving.timesonline.co.uk
