Chair of TVAM, Andy Slater, was a guest on the Anne Diamond morning show this morning. He spoke about the differences of riding in the UK to France, road rage towards bikers, and also how we teach advanced riding skills at TVAM to help keep bikers safe.
You can here the piece at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p058msbj#play (2hrs and 19 mins into the programme).
We are pleased to announce that the first of the 20 young riders selected for their RideUP scheme has passed his IAM RoadSmart Advanced motorcycle test. The ‘RideUP’ scheme was launched in October 2016.
Paul McPherson, aged 28, is the first to successfully pass his test and will now go on to enjoy a fully paid-for track skills day at Thruxton in August.
The RideUP Scheme offers riders under the age of 30 who have passed their test within the past 2 years free unlimited on-the-road coaching to the advanced riding standard and free attendance on both advanced braking and advanced cornering courses, both held on private roads. On passing their test they also get a free track skills day on a closed race circuit.
Paul said “The training I received during this course is invaluable in making me a safer rider. I’ve learnt skills that I wouldn’t even have discovered by just riding on the roads by myself. The coaching provided by TVAM is first class and I’d definitely recommend it for any bike rider who’s just got their license.”
Andy Slater, Chairman TVAM said, “The scheme aims to reduce accidents and injuries to one of the most vulnerable groups of riders, those who are young, inexperienced and have perhaps recently bought their first powerful machine. Whilst motorcyclists are just 1% of total road traffic, they unfortunately account for 21% of all road user deaths.”
The RideUP scheme will open for 2017 applications later this summer. Details can be found at www.rideup.tvam.org.
On Wednesday evening, over 70 Associates, Full Members, TOb’s, Observers and even a prospective member, crammed into a small meeting room at the Coppid Beech Hotel in Bracknell to hear Shaun Cronin talk about the latest developments occurring at the IAM – now of course ‘IAM RoadSmart’.
Shaun covered the rebranding and why this was necessary, the development of standards, and also new schemes being introduced in the coming months. One of these may mean that Associates could gain full membership via a modular style of learning rather than a single test ride at the end of their training. Groups such as TVAM could elect to administer such a scheme which sparked some discussion on standards, impartiality, etc. This will be discussed further at the Observer Day next month.
There was also a discussion on the Masters and how this sets a highest civilian riding standard against which any Full Member could test themselves – Observer or not.
Alison Silcox claims to be the centre of the MCN universe as she’s the office manager and also a regular contributor to the weekly publication. Back in March when she decided to was time to improving her riding skills she turned to TVAM and Alie Ball, one of our National Observers, took her under her wing. Despite the distance from home Alison made it to a number of St Crispin’s over the summer and was taken out by other Observers, who contributed to the process. Alison successfully developed new skills during the course including how to build a rolling riding plan, giving her more time to react to hazards and spot opportunities to make progress, and also covering filtering, overtaking and slow speed manoeuvring.
Alison passed her test last month and so received her test certificate and green badge at the December St Crispin’s meeting. You can read her MCN article about her TVAM experience here
Congratulations Ali and well done Alie!