BRITISH superbike champion Troy Bayliss is helping to promote a massive safety campaign for bikers. He plays a crucial role in a Bikesafe 2000 video and has joined forces with Thames Valley Police to get the message across.

WHEN you hear the familiar sound of an ambulance's siren wailing in the distance most people wonder where it is going and - although you may not admit it - say a silent prayer that it is not you who needs the help of paramedics, writes Simon Nix.

Thankfully, the total number of biking-related deaths accounts for only about 18 per cent of fatal accidents on the roads in the Thames Valley Police area each year.

But a strange phenomenon has emerged in recent years to cause alarm amongst the emergency services.

It is the high number of born-again middle-aged bikers who are now pushing up these tragic figures.

Back in the early 1990s the motorbike crash statistics were slashed with the introduction of the Compulsory Basic Training programme.

Youngsters were first forced to undergo a pursuit test - where the examiner follows on a motorbike - then, later, put through a series of roadcraft tests while being restricted to less powerful bikes, before even being allowed out on to the roads by themselves.

Prior to this, teenagers had only to wobble round the block - watched by an examiner with a clipboard - to be let loose on powerful machines.

The new CBT training cut the 16- to 21-year-old biker carnage by two thirds in one fell swoop. It was hailed as a success story.

Then, in the mid 90s came the shock. Born-again bikers, many of whom had passed the former and now laughable old test, were returning to buy modern high-performance machines.

Accident surveys suddenly showed a huge increase in bike-related deaths. Four fifths were riders either in their 40s or 50s. While the annual toll rose to about 20 deaths a year in the Thames Valley, five times that figure were injured.

Last year, by the end of June, there had only been six fatal bike crashes. But the summer weather arrived, the born-agains dashed out to buy a superbike - probably three or four times more powerful than the machines they had ridden when they were teenagers - and in an horrific eight -week period, the death toll doubled.

These riders had fallen through the CBT safety net.

Police decided they had to act. And so a new initiative was born - Bikesafe 2000.

Police officers drew together a team that included representatives from local councils, The Motorcycle Action Group, Institute of Advanced Motorists, Thames Vale Advanced Motorcyclists, the National Association of Bikers with Disabilities, Driver Improvement Scheme officers and Motorcycle UK Ltd - providers of internet services to the biking world.

Together they pledged to try to raise awareness among motorcyclists of the dangers, encourage further training and to curb dangerous riding.

There was applause when the scheme was officially launched in the Thames Valley area at a MAG rally in Reading recently.

Now, focusing on the future, an advanced riding video is being made that, hopefully, will soon be available to everyone in the county who buys a big bike.

Playing a star role in that Bikesafe 2000 video is British Superbike champion Troy Bayliss.

The likeable GSE Racing Ducati rider gave up his free time to be at a special video shoot at the Banbury-based police driver training school.

Dressed in his colourful orange race leathers, Troy said: "If I can help in any way to make biking safer, I'm all for it.

"Although I feel safe racing at high speed on a track, there are a lot more hazards on the public roads. People should realise the difference. I hope that all bikers will support this scheme."

Police Inspector Kevin Fitzpatrick, the Bikesafe 2000 project leader, said: "The marvellous thing about this initiative is that it is costing nothing. Everyone we ring up - like the GSE racing team or the internet providers Motorcycle UK Limited - have dropped what they were doing and helped us for free.

"No-one wants to take the fun out of motorcycling, we just want it to be safer."

Besides the free video, there will also be posters and leaflets distributed to motorcycle dealers, along with lists of approved local training courses. The scheme then hopes to urge instructors to seek accreditation under the Bikesafe umbrella in an effort to boost standards further.

For more information on Bikesafe 2000, see the special website on: www.motorcycle-uk.com/bikesafe2000.

Story date: Wednesday 13 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.