August update from North Wales Police BikeSafe

My August update on North Wales Police BikeSafe (UK) activity is going to be a bit different as we stand down NWP BikeSafe Workshops in August.

This is for many historical reasons – from increased traffic on North Wales roads and the subsequent workload increase, but also holidays (not just NWP Roads Policing staff but for volunteers as well!) August, historically, was always a low attendance month for us, too.

That does not mean the volunteer community has not been busy with other activities. You join to do BikeSafe and get pulled into many, many other volunteering opportunities with NWP. I could do another post just on the other volunteering activities I do, it’s something I will think about.

So that’s it for this month. Well, no, I wanted to highlight a few things that have been happening recently.

First NWP has announced PRIMEs (Perceptual Rider Information for Maximising Expertise and Enjoyment), which are innovative road markings and signage that aim to help motorcyclists make safer decisions when approaching and negotiating bends in roads.

This is an excellent road safety and education initiative that was trialled in Scotland. In my personal view, it will help with rider education on the best/correct position to be in for corners. It’s currently in the hot spot corners where riders get it consistently wrong, so you will not see it on every corner and I do not believe it should be there on every corner it is there like extra paint, extra signage, barriers as a warning. Have a read: https://www.northwales.police.uk/news/north-wales/news/news/2025/august/pioneering-road-safety-initiative-to-make-motorcycling-safer-is-underway/

Second BikeSafe is working with Ducati to reach out to the sports bike community, often seen as the hardest group of riders to reach on road safety initiatives. Ducati’s Fabrizio Cazzoli has always been there for BikeSafe over the years and it is great to see their continued involvement: https://www.ducati.com/gb/en/news/ducati-helps-bikesafe-improve-uk-road-safety

I will say my track day experience Ron Haslam Track Day experience taught me a load about riding, and especially braking!

Third is the announcement that The Road Safety Trust has provided funding to evaluate BikeSafe. My personal view as a long term BikeSafe Observer for NWP (next year will be my 10th anniversary) is that there has never been a review carried out into our effectiveness.

I have had bikers come up to me in dealerships/biker meets with comments like – “BikeSafe saved my life” (humbling to say the least), “my mate has told me to get on a workshop, it’s the best thing since sliced bread,” etc. But never have we had a real review.

We are not a training organisation, we are there to improve rider education and give them an indication where they can improve and point them to the many organisations that can help them.