Motorbike safety campaign shows 'devasting' impacts
BBCAvon and Somerset Police is urging people to better protect motorbikes on roads in the West Country.
It comes as the force takes part in Operation Apex, a national campaign aimed at reducing the number of riders killed or seriously injured.
In Avon and Somerset, 39% of fatal or serious injury collisions in 2025 involved powered two wheelers, including motorcycles, e-scooters, Sur-Rons and electric bikes.
Roads policing inspector Matt Boiles said the force will be stopping drivers throughout June to educate them on safety and emphasised even the most experienced rider is vulnerable to "devastating" consequences if they are not seen by other road users.
"Whilst there is improved safety gear for them now. They are exposed and don't have any protection around them," Boiles said.
"The consequences when things go wrong can be devastating.
He explained that the responsibility also lays with members of the public driving cars sometimes who do not always check properly at junctions and miss bikes.
"We are there [at a crash] going 'if only they'd looked or slowed down a little more'.
"On the flipside we know that when the weather is nice and the roads are clear motorcyclists like to test their wheels, but we would urge people to think twice about that.
"Apex is about education. We want people to think twice to make the roads safe for everybody," he said.
During the operation police will use drones to observe the behaviour of drivers on the roads and will pull people over to educate them to make sure they are being safe.
According to the force, there have been 46 motorcyclist fatalities in the force area since 2022.
"The reason we're looking at powered two wheels right now is because the data shows us that we see a spike in collisions around this time of year," Boiles added.
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