HASnear angry bikers, bikers in training. Recent news may well have been marked by the establishment, amid pain and controversy, of a technical inspection for motorized two-wheelers, here, it is more the litany of accidents which marks people’s minds. In April 2024 alone, two serious accidents involving motorists and motorcyclists were recorded: one on April 10 between Nieppe and Bailleul, and one three days earlier, in Guigny, which cost the life of a young woman of 26 years.
Also read: A young woman loses her life in a motorcycle accident in Guigny
So as the sunny days approach, the road safety coordination of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture continues to conduct training for owners of motorcycles over 125 cm3, district by district. The fourth of six training courses planned for 2024 took place on May 4, at Calais-Marck airport.
25 bikers took part, with varying profiles, ages and motorcycle experience, explains the prefecture’s road safety coordinator. Their common point is that they chose to be there: “They registered in advance on the prefecture’s Facebook page. We also see many registering directly during the Enduropale, where we have a stand. We divide them into two groups: the first leaves with the police officers on motorcycles for practical exercises, the second stays here to train in first aid. And in the afternoon, we reverse. »
Booster shot and new equipment
On the practical side, the groups therefore crisscrossed the departmental roads around Marck with the police to study the safest trajectories. There is the slow handling exercise – for many one of the worst memories of the motorcycle license – and the braking test. There is also the classic awareness workshop on the dangers of alcohol and the difference between the dosage carried out in bars and those of consumers themselves in private, the latter being unsurprisingly much more loaded.
Also read: Accident between Bailleul and Nieppe: the motorcycle driver in a coma, the passenger still hospitalized
In terms of first aid, classic training is provided, with training in cardiac massage on mannequins, but also in the application of tourniquets, of the tourniquet or Velcro type. The training ended, around 5 p.m., with a demonstration of various safety equipment, including the airbag backpack, which has just received an innovation award. The day, which the sub-prefect of the Calais district, Agathe Cury, attended, also included a road safety quiz. The five participants with the best results received, in order, an airbag vest, a helmet, an intercom, with the fourth and fifth each receiving a pair of gloves.
This leading group, like those from the other training days, will meet for a final at Croix on September 14. Before that, there are still two training sessions remaining: May 25 in Dainville, in Arrageois, and June 26 in Hucqueliers, in Montreuillois. Registration, on the prefecture’s Facebook page, is free… But the places are almost all already taken.
