Tarik Kiddoe, who hopes to generate more traction for the Back to Basics Motorcycle Safety Workshop series that he has started, is all too aware of the spike in fatalities from crashes involving motorcyclists. Although Kiddoe can claim no deaths among workshop participants, as well as the Shango Bikers riding group of which he is a part, the National Road Safety Council’s (NRSC) figures show a 112 per cent leap in motorcyclists’ deaths from 2014 to 2015.

However, Kiddoe believes there was class bias at play in the previous level of attention paid to motorcyclists dying as most are from the lower socio-economic strata. In addition, he points out that there is an inadequate legal framework for motorcyclists.

Kiddoe said, “Motorcyclists are allowed to ‘learn to ride’ on our roads with absolutely no licensed driver present to offer guidance. By current road-safety standards, that is insane! If any group of people driving trucks, cars, or any other mode of transport was allowed to do this, the result would be mayhem. We should not be surprised to see mayhem as the result for motorcyclists.”

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