High-visibility jackets handed to riders on notorious road BIKERS travelling on a notorious Hampshire road were this morning being handed fluorescent jackets by police in a bid to reduce fatalities.

Motorcyclists were being stopped on the A326 Totton to Fawley road as part of a safety operation during rush-hour. The move to provide high-visibility yellow jackets comes just days after bikers staged a mass rally calling for improved safety measures on the road following three deaths last summer.

In August, Terry Stubbs, 29, and his 11-year-old stepdaughter Channon Kevern, both of Fawley, died in a collision with a car between Hythe and Hardley. The following month Tim Reynolds, 51, of Whittington Close, Hythe, died at the junction of the A326 and Twiggs Lane, Marchwood.

Council bosses have promised a raft of improvements after family members joined forces to campaign for changes on the route.

The latest safety initiative, funded by the Safer Roads Partnership, comes after analysis revealed that motorbike riders travelling to and from work are among the most vulnerable road users.

Between January and December last year, 24 bikers and one pillion passenger were killed on the roads of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with 65 per cent of those accidents happening at or around junctions.

“Of these, 35 per cent of car drivers involved stated that they had failed to see or recognise an oncoming motorbike,” said PC Mick Gear, who runs the force’s Bike Safe initiative.


The bikers rally on the A326

“Our advice is simple. To the car driver –think bike. When you get to a junction, take longer to look. It can be very difficult to judge the speed of oncoming motorcycles.

“Motorcyclists – don’t commit to an overtake manoeuvre prior to a junction. Anticipate that there may be a vehicle emerging.”