Honda Launches New Safety Training Scheme | Aiming to Improve Road Safety by 2050

Honda has introduced a new subsidised training scheme for new bike buyers in a bid to dramatically reduce rider fatalities. 

The basics are as follows: It’s called the Honda Motorcycle Safety Training (HMST) Scheme, has been two years in the making, is replicated by similar Honda schemes throughout Europe and the globe, and Honda has just launched the UK version in association with established training specialists Rapid Training.

The event took place at Lincolnshire’s Blyton Park where Honda brought an event unit and fleet of bikes. 

The current figures make sobering reading: Of the 1.2million road fatalities worldwide every year, a massive one THIRD, according to Honda, happen on bikes. Worldwide, motorcycling is the leading cause of death for 5-29-year-olds. That also translates into one motorcycling death every 27 seconds. 

OK, those are worldwide figures perhaps skewed by shocking driving standards in the likes of India or Vietnam, so what’s the situation in the UK? Here, there were still tragic 374 rider fatalities last year and, perhaps even more surprisingly, 65% of those were not, as you may assume, inexperienced youngsters on 125s but instead were older riders aboard 500cc+ bikes, with those in their 30s, according to the statistics, the most ‘at risk’ age group. 

Which is the background to why Honda has now launched a new rider training programme aimed at bringing those figures down. 

Rapid Training, in case you didn’t already know, is one of, if not THE, leading provider of rider coaching in the UK. 

It was launched in 1997 by a group of ex-racers who were also police riders when they realised there was a gap in the market for professional rider training. 

Today there are over 20 Rapid coaches located across the UK, all trained beyond Police Class 1 standards and who are also no mugs on track. 

They are also hugely personable, knowledgeable and likeable chaps, and Rapid are also supported by Dunlop, RST, Arai and GB Racing and use Honda NT1100 bikes. 

After meeting at the allotted time at Blyton, we signed on then gathered for a presentation which outlined the scheme's background and aims. 

The overall goals are hugely ambitious. As a result of this and other measures, Honda’s target is to reduce the current fatality rate by a whopping 50% and – and perhaps even more ambitiously – to reduce it to ZERO by 2050. 

Honda says that, according to its research, the main causes of fatal accidents are threefold: environmental (2%, e.g. adverse conditions), vehicular (also 2%, for example a mechanical fault) and three, ‘human’ (which accounts for a whopping 94% of these accidents and includes things like riding errors). 

As a result, Honda says, many – if not all – fatal accidents can be avoided.

Honda says it’s working on improving environmental aspects; it also continues to improve the safety of its vehicles (via technology such as traction control), but the biggest focus is currently on the third aspect, human error, hence the creation of this new rider training scheme. 

“As a leading motorcycle manufacturer,” we’ve got a responsibility to tackle this head on,” Andy Mineyko, Head of Honda Motorcycles UK, said at HMST’s launch event at Blyton, Lincolnshire. (Honda’s is the world’s No. 1 motorcycle brand with a 40% worldwide market share – Ed.) “We have to protect our customers, to provide rider training…” 

As a result, all customers now buying a new, ‘big’ (over 125cc) Honda road machine will also get a £250 voucher which can be offset against a Honda/Rapid training course.

Honda and Rapid have also created a new, bespoke, one-day, road-based rider training course which normally is available UK-wide, offers tailored training on a 2:1 rider/instructor ratio and would normally cost £545, meaning it’s effectively been discounted to just £295.

The voucher can also be used against most of Rapid’s other courses. 

Although track riding isn’t part of the bespoke Honda package, it is offered on other Rapid courses and gives instructors a great way to assess and improve riding skills such as positioning, braking, throttle control and gear selection. 

We did two enjoyable 20-minute sessions after both of which my instructor gave useful feedback and guidance, particularly on machine control. 

Then, after lunch, we headed out onto the road in a 2:1 ratio, and this time focussed more on ‘roadcraft’ – reading the road, assessing potential hazards, interpreting other road users and so on which even I, as a 40+-year motorcycling veteran, found useful and enjoyable.

As they say: ‘You’re never too old to learn’! 

If I was a relative novice or returnee biker and considering buying a new Honda, I wouldn’t think twice about taking up the new scheme. 

The fatality figures speak for themselves – it’s not worth the risk. But if I had one criticism, it’s only that it’s a discounted, not free scheme.

If it was it’d be a no-brainer. But even without, £295, when you’re already likely also committed to new gear, insurance, security and more, isn’t that much and certainly not too much to dismiss! 

Pic By Jamie Morris