Posted By Chris121
http://www.telegraph.co....ce-sells-motorbikes.html

Would be interested to hear your comments?

Posted By Elfy
The Chief said of the decision:

"A decision was taken on 7 April, with immediate effect, to dissolve the force's motorcycle capability to maximise the safety of officers".

Whilst at first glance the move looks a little silly it may be that once the risk to officers has been assessed against the benefits of motorbikes the decision may look a little more rational.

Posted By steve e ashton
You might be interested in reading my comments - but you'd have to be quick because the mods would delete them automatically.

I agree with all the comments attached to the telegraph site and would add more of my own if I wasn't so polite!

Steve.

Posted By mark mackin
As a motorcycle rider and a H&S enthusiast I can see the reasoning behind the decision. Over the last year or two there have been a number of deaths to Police Officers who where on patrol on a motorcycle. Granted there will be statistics to say there have been deaths to Police while driving cars, but as cars cannot be eliminated from their workplace and motorcycles can I would imagine the risk posed outweighed the need to keep them and so off they go. We must also remember that for pursuit purposes bikes where at one time a very good tool but as most forces now own helicoptors these will negate the need for bikes for this purpose.
As usual the media will get hold of it and report it in a manner that will again show H&S in a bad light which will further undermine our roles within the workplace

Posted By BB
AHS,

You'd be hard pressed to find better trained motorcyclists anywhere in the world, than in the British Police.

Mr Plod isn't allowed out on a bike in the same way as he/she can in a little panda car.

This smells of cost-cutting to me.

BB

Posted By Paul T9
About four years ago we had the police come onto our patch as they had had a number of accidents involving their motorcycles and suspected a design flaw. They carried out high speed runs to test this theory; I guess they were right as I had to help pick up the pieces when one of them lost it at high speed. This was on a perfectly straight runway!

It cost one officer a long stay in hospital but how many did it save as it proved the point?

Was it financial reasons why the authority chose that make and model?

The point was proved but in my opinion the cost was way too high!

Posted By steve e ashton
Sylvia:

It is my recollection that it was the Pan-Euros, and the problem was a high speed weave caused by the addition of too much weight in police accessories... But I stand to have memory corrected.

Steve

Posted By Adie
Hi,

I'm an ex-Military Policeman and have ridden The Pan European as a Police Bike, complete with all the standard Police Attachments.

The wobble at high speed was produced by the "siren speaker" being mounted on the faring on the right side just in-front of the riders right foot. This siren was about 6" in diameter, shaped like a funnel and acted as a big air trap. In some cases this was remedied by the siren being moved to a position under the faring.

My opinion is that if the rider is trained well and rides within his abilities then a bike is no more dangerous than any other form of transport. My experiance has been that some car drivers present the greater risk to riders by "not seeing" them, or panicking when a bike closes up with them.