North Yorkshire Police and the 95 Alive Road Safety Partnership have launched a major road safety operation to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on North Yorkshire’s roads.
Operation AEGIS, launched today at Squires Café Bar, will aim to prevent collisions which result in serious or fatal injury through a mixture of education and enforcement.
As part of this operation, Police will be using all tactical enforcement methods available to them – high visibility patrols, unmarked patrols, covert patrols, unmarked motorcycle equipped with speed detection and video recording equipment, safety camera vans and the National Police Air Service helicopter.
Speaking at the launch DCC Tim Madgwick said:
“North Yorkshire has more than 6,000 miles of roads, much of them remote, rural and picturesque. The area attracts tourists, cyclists and motorcyclists and we are today appealing to them to ensure that they drive and ride safely. We all have a responsibility to ride and drive according to the speed limits, road conditions, weather and traffic situations.”
“Our statistics show us that unfortunately there is still an over representation of bikers amongst these incidents. We know that 70% of motorcycle collisions are down to rider error; such as taking the wrong line through bends or inappropriate overtaking. Working with the 95 Alive Road Safety Partnership there are a number of biker education schemes available such as the Bikesafe scheme – and we encourage riders to read the advice and enrol in training to ensure their riding skills match their bikes capabilities.
“As the NPCC lead for motorcycling, I am committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to reduce these numbers. We are here today to share the message about road safety and to say to those who choose to ignore the facts and take risks on our roads – we will be using all of our enforcement capabilities to enable us to keep responsible road users safe.”
Executive member for Highways for North Yorkshire County Council, Councillor Don Mackenzie said:
“As the Local Highways Authority we work with the police and the other 95 Alive Partners all year round to help residents and visitors to use our roads in safety.
We believe that continuing education, training and skills are important and will help the majority of motorcyclists (and drivers) to stay safe on our roads. We all like to think we are good drivers or riders but we can gradually develop bad habits without being aware of it and it is easy on a long ride to lose concentration and make a misjudgement. The idea of encouraging riders to take a break is important and we appreciate the help and support that cafes popular with motorcyclists are giving to our work.
For those who ride recklessly or drive at excessive speeds, the police will enforce the law to protect our communities and everyone else on our roads.”
For this campaign, North Yorkshire Police will have the support of the NPAS helicopter. The helicopter has the capability to record high quality digital images which will allow number plate recognition – allowing Police to track and identify and prosecute speeding vehicles.
To highlight the enforcement capabilities available to North Yorkshire Police – a video has been produced. Click here to view the NPAS helicopter in action – www.youtube.com/northyorkshirepolice/AEGIS
An Operation AEGIS factsheet, providing key facts and figures regarding the campaign is also available via the North Yorkshire Police website: www.northyorkshire.police.uk/AEGIS