Bikers to create awareness of safety
Bikers in the city have decided to join hands in an endeavour to make the roads safer for youngsters, including school children, who ride motorbikes.
POLOKWANE – Bikers in the city have decided to join hands in an endeavour to make the roads safer for youngsters, including school children, who ride motorbikes.
The reason for this, according to Unicorn Bikers Club president, Bosman Brink, is that there have been an unusually high number of accidents involving motorbikes over the past few months.
Over the past two months, Review has reported on at least 10 serious, often fatal, accidents involving motorcycles. In one of the latest accidents, a learner from Tom Naudé Technical High School riding a motorbike died in a collision with a motor vehicle on the corner of Compensatie and Jorissen Streets.
Review is also aware of other accidents of this kind, which were not reported on.
According to accident reconstruction expert, Phillip Smit, in most of these accidents, the main cause was failure to heed a stop sign or red traffic light. He said in many cases, motorists said the biker had not been visible.
According to Brink, people need to be made aware of this situation. He and other stakeholders have developed a three-phase awareness campaign: the first phase will kick off on Saturday with a mass bike ride through the city, in the second phase, presentations will be done at various schools to teach learners more about riding a motorbike safely and the third phase will involve the training of young bikers.
Brink and other bikers feel strongly that a meeting between them, the police and traffic department would benefit everyone, and a meeting was in the process of being arranged.
