Stronger Together In Derbyshire, the Police and the Fire Service are co-operating to deliver a vital message, with help from Pidcock Motorcycles and a Zero - James Dempsey explains
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ince launching in 2019 the UpRight scheme has grown through the hard work and dedication of everyone involved. The brainchild of an active duty police officer, it was a direct response to the number of motorcycle fatalities and serious accidents in Derbyshire and the surrounding counties. The message wasn’t new, encouraging bikers to become better riders by focusing on their attitude to riding, having appropriate clothing and taking advanced rider training. The difference was an emphasis on education rather than penalising poor performance. It’s a fine line – get too preachy about road safety and some bikers switch off; take it too softly softly and we don’t listen. It has paid off, with the UpRight team getting out and about to motorcycle dealerships, biker destinations like Matlock Bath and spreading the “right attitude, right knowledge, right kit” message. It became clear that although subtly different from the established Biker Down (run by Derbyshire Fire Service), the Upright scheme is complementary to it. The two respective services decided to collaborate and deliver both schemes together. So far, Derbyshire is the only county where both the Fire Service and Police are working hand in hand to reduce motorcycle deaths and improve road safety.
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Motorcycle R I D E R
Ice Breaker
When Tom Rowland was getting UpRight off the ground, he approached Pidcock Motorcycles for a chat. We were happy to be asked because we wanted to support the scheme. Take wearing the correct kit – a badly fitting £1,000 carbon fibre helmet is no safer than a correctly fitted £200 helmet. Anything we could do to get that message across was definitely worth getting involved in. We are already fervent supporters of Derbyshire Blood Bikes, and this was another way in which we could give back to the community. Since the correct kit is a core message of UpRight, we donated a set of RST clothing plus AGV helmet to help illustrate the importance of the right kit – a dry, comfortable rider is a safe rider. Anyone who signed up to undergo training was in with a chance of winning the whole lot, and the competition created a great amount of interest in the scheme. We also decided to donate a motorcycle for the team to use, and have done so every year since. As bikes would be accompanying the UpRight team on events we provided unusual machines that would stand out and provide an opportunity for the team to break the ice with the public – a BMW café racer was followed by a GS urban and now a Zero DS,
