Dates For Your Diary
Next meeting is on 26 Oct.
From 7.30pm for a 7.45pm start .
Steve Hyde and Bob Fram talk us through their Land's End to John O'Groats cycle trip
Do you have a topic you would like discussed, or know of an interesting speaker? Please contact speaker at speakers@wiltshireroadar.co.uk
SkillShare & Social
3 October 2026 meeting at the REME Museum Cafe, Lyneham. 9.30 am for 10 am start. See main section for more details.
Bike Ride-Outs on the 3rd Saturday of every even numbered month and the 3rd Sunday of every odd numbered Month. Email will be sent out to Bikers and added to the Forum.
Next ride out Saturday 17 October Details will be forthcoming via email to all bike members.
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Congratulations
Congratulations to the following members who have passed their Advanced Tests recently:
Alex Jones - Car - Gold. Tutor Tony Chalkly
Please welcome the following to the Group:
Chris Deller - Car
Chris walker – Bike
Marie Lakin – Bike
Nathan Oliver – Bike
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Please see the main body of the newsletter for the process to purchase branded clothing |
Newsletter Content
We are always looking for more articles, ideas and news for the newsletter. Have you been somewhere interesting recently that would make a good story? If you attend any group events then take a camera and send us your pictures!
Please forward all contributions to newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk |
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I rode from Utrecht in Holland to Wiltshire in a day- some 350 miles mostly on motorways; with a ferry "rest" in the middle. All a bit dull on a motorcycle but it was necessary to get home from a week away marshalling at Assen with the British Superbikes. So what? I hear you ask; alright for some who do not work. I used my cruise control on my motorcycle for a fair bit of the journey as it is useful to ease the pressure my right wrist. I did, however, have to constantly adapt how I used it as I found myself falling into bad habits.
I was often judging distance between the vehicles in front and behind as I did not want to turn off the cruise control. This meant I often sat too close to the vehicle in front (closing the distance) whilst waiting for a slightly faster vehicle to overtake me. This, as you will all know and are probably screaming at me now, is dangerous and it reduces my margin for error and my ability to see what is going on ahead of me. Thankfully it only took a couple of events for me to give myself a good talking to (easy in a helmet!); use the cruise control properly and not see it as a challenge not to turn it off! Driver and rider aids are well very well but they need to fit into our driving and riding plan - all of you are nodding sagely now but have a think next time you are driving or riding about their utility and the impact on your and others’ safety. Advance driver and rider assistance systems are covered in chapter 2 of the new roadcraft, worth a read I think
I had a lovely time travelling through the Netherlands (and managed to catch up with some family members) and I relied on my sat nav to get me around. I normally have a paper map as a backup but I chose not to do this (forgot to be honest). All was good until I was let down by my power bank leaving my phone (which feeds my satnav) underpowered for the journey back from Assen to my niece’s house in Utrecht. Thankfully a fellow camper (with a very nice camper van) helped me out. Another lesson learnt (well relearnt I am ashamed to say)
I hope you have all had a good summer and I look forward to catching up with as many of you as I can in the coming months – let me know if you have learnt (or re learnt) any lessons on your travels
Stay safe
Bob
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Advanced Vehicle Safety Systems - Update
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The Government has confirmed it will more forward with plans to require a wide range of advanced vehicle safety technologies on new mass-produced vehicles entering the Great Britain market and proceed with legislation requiring the technologies to be fitted to relevant new vehicles, alongside transitional arrangements for manufacturers. The announcement follows a public consultation launched earlier this year on proposals to incorporate 18 safety technologies into the GB type approval scheme. The DfT says the measures will enhance vehicle safety, reduce collisions and improve casualty outcomes, while bringing Great Britain more closely into line with vehicle safety standards already operating in Northern Ireland and across Europe.
The technologies will apply to new vehicle types seeking GB type approval and include systems designed to prevent or mitigate collisions, such as:
• Advanced emergency braking systems
• Blind spot information systems
• Driver drowsiness and attention warning systems
• Driver distraction warning systems
• Emergency lane keeping systems
• Intelligent speed assistance
• Reversing detection technologies
• Event data recorders
One proposed measure that will not be mandated at this stage is an alcohol interlock interface. The interface enables alcohol interlock devices to be installed more easily in vehicles but does not prevent drink driving on its own. The Government concluded there is currently no wider policy framework for alcohol interlocks in Great Britain and that requiring the interface alone would deliver limited benefits. However, it said the technology will remain under review as future policy develops.
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Road Casulaty Figures for 2025
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The DfT has published its final reported road casualty statistics for Great Britain for 2025, confirming a reduction in road deaths but a rise in the combined number of people killed and seriously injured.
The figures show that 1,538 people were killed on Britain’s roads during 2025 – 46 fewer than in 2024, representing a 3% reduction. However, the number of people killed and seriously injured (KSI) increased by 4% to 29,911, while the total number of reported casualties remained broadly unchanged at 127,870.
When compared with 2015, the longer-term picture remains one of improvement. Fatalities have fallen by 10%, KSIs by 7%, and total reported casualties by 31%, largely driven by reductions in slight injuries but the latest figures suggest progress has slowed in recent years, with serious injuries moving in the wrong direction despite the continued fall in fatalities.
We also learn from the published figures that:
• Motorcyclist fatalities increased by 13% to 384, marking the second consecutive annual rise.
• Pedestrian fatalities fell by 9% to 372.
• Car occupant fatalities fell by 8% to 638.
• Pedal cycle casualties increased by 10% to 16,027, the largest percentage increase in total
casualties among the main road user groups.
• Cyclist KSIs also increased by 14%, while cyclist fatalities remained broadly unchanged.
• 77% of people killed on Britain’s roads in 2025 were male.
• 61% of all casualties were male.
Men continue to account for a disproportionate number of fatalities across almost every road user group. You can read the report here
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CLOD Hogging - Centre Lane Only Drivers
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Motorists have been urged to “stay in their lane” rather than take matters into their own hands when confronted with drivers who hog the middle lane of motorways.
Image from RAC
Centre Lane Only Drivers (CLODs) have sparked a series of TikTok videos in which a content creator held up signs telling middle-lane drivers to move over. The video has attracted more than 83,000 likes and thousands of comments, highlighting how strongly the issue resonates with motorists.
The problem of drivers who hog the middle lane rather than move to the left lane after overtaking has been highlighted by the police, road safety experts and motoring organisations as an increasingly disruptive, congestion-stimulating and potentially dangerous habit.
However, road safety experts have warned that attempting to educate other drivers while on the move can create additional risks, particularly at motorway speeds.
National Highways research has found that one in three drivers admitted to middle-lane hogging, while a 2025 Which? survey found 77% of motorists had witnessed it at least several times a month. Middle-lane hogging was among the three most irritating driving habits recorded in the survey and leads to frustration that can quickly turn into dangerous behaviour.
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New Group Meeting Location
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Please remeber our new meeting venue is the Nursteed Community Centre. It is a more central locatoin and it is hoped it will attract members from around the county.
However, with this comes a change of day too; still a Monday, but now the fourth Monday of the month but timings are un changed - 1930 to 2130
There is plenty of parking space and probably easier to approach than Liddington!
The address is Nursteed Community Centre, Nursteed Rd, Devizes SN10 3AF
What3words ///boarding.imprinted.rebounds
Hope to see you there!
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Notices
Merchandise - UPDATE
We now have a process to provide branded clothing for those who want it. It seems a bit long winded but we need to maintain the branding and we must do this ourselves and not leave it to the supplier! If you want something have a look at Wiltshire Workwear, Chippenham;
- please rememebr you need to have Navy Blue clothing.
Once you have decided send you order to Clothing@wiltshireroadar.co.uk. Harlequin Dave will reply with a quote and once you have paid for the goods to the Wiltshrie RoADAR Treasurer the order will be placed. full details can be found here
Committee Members
A number of people have asked who is who in the zoo. The list of Officers for the Group is on the website here. Feel free to join us (I know the list of Committee members is a little out of date as Nick Carrington is a member, we have lost Steve Allsworth – thanks for your time and effort Steve, and have gained Scott Bonnell – thanks for your commitment Scott)
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Saturday Social
The venue for our monthly Saturday Social is at the REME Museum Café in Lyneham.
Bring a friend and join us on the first Saturday of the month at the Wiltshire RoADAR Saturday Social.
You never know what/who may turn up!
Come and meet your fellow members; exchange notes with other associates; meet some of our tutors and pick their brains.
We usually stay chatting eating cake and drinking tea until 11 ish.
The first Saturday of the month - 09:30 - REME Museum, Calne Rd, Lyneham, Chippenham SN15 4XX
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Have you been up to anything to do with Riding or Driving lately? If so, then please let us know as we would love to include it here; photos would be great too
Members Ride – Stratford-upon-Avon
Six riders (including me) met at Greenbridge Retail Park in Swindon for our latest members’ ride, with me leading and Steve taking on tail-end Charlie duties.
It was a little chilly to begin with, but the day soon brightened into dry, sunny riding weather as we headed north through Burford and Chipping Norton towards Stratford-upon-Avon.
Our brunch stop was Stratford Garden Centre, where the food went down well, even if the coffee was a little on the pricey side. One member also managed to provide the day’s fashion highlight by turning up in odd gloves!
A young staff member at the garden centre recognised us as fellow riders and shared his recent test success … and subsequent “off” three days later! Fortunately, rider and bike none the worse! A good reminder of why additional training post-test and beyond can be a key asset to us all.
After brunch, we headed back via Fish Hill, Broadway and Stow-on-the-Wold, enjoying some excellent Cotswold roads in the sunshine.
An enjoyable morning's ride, with good roads, good company and thankfully no rain.
Thanks to those who came along.
Em Hookham
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RoSPA Rookie at the tender age of 59!
It was in August 2025, that I was sat at my Computer, and I had a kind of epiphany. Despite riding pillion with my Father many years ago, I had never bothered to do my bike licence, in fact I had never even ridden a bike. I was more of a car fanatic. They say you do mad things in your 60’s, and I decided there and then to get my full licence before I was 60 in April 2026.
So I booked my CBT with Riding In Action (RIA) in Wroughton in September 2025. That went really well and I was hooked. On to theory and hazard perception. Bear in mind I had passed my driving test in 1983 first time, and although I had had some IAM lessons years ago, the highway code had changed quite a lot. So, I threw everything at it. I was doing 10 or so mock theory tests a night for weeks, constantly going over it all. It paid off, I got 98%.
In October I bought my first bike. A friend was selling his 18 month old Honda CB125r, so I bought it. He passed 1st time so I thought it was a great omen. Every few days I went out and practised over & over all the MOD 1 manoeuvres, I must have spent hours trying to perfect them. Next for the lessons with RIA on the big bike. A Yamaha MT 07. They started in January 2026, but we did suffer some delays due to bad weather. Dave Hawkins at RIA was excellent. MOD 1 booked for early March 2026. I approached it with some trepidation and nervousness but passed with two minors. (one was no shoulder check when leaving the test site!) I was so relieved. No more blimen U turns I thought!
On to MOD 2. Again a couple of lessons with Dave, and MOD 2 booked for 14th April, 2 days before my 60th.
An overcast day, the examiner was the same chap who did my MOD 1. A tall, fairly stern looking guy, who didn’t give anything away by way of facial expression. In the weekends before I had spent many hours riding around the test centre area very early on Sunday mornings, trying to cover every possible approach to every roundabout, riding all the “known” “popular” test routes, so I wouldn’t be caught out. On the day. it wasn’t my best ride; the traffic was terrible at 8.20 in the morning, and on the way back to the test centre, I was convinced I had failed. When he said I had passed, albeit with 5 minors, you could have knocked me over. That was it, I had done it with 2 days spare. Hooray…
I sold my Honda CB125r, and bought a new Honda CB500 in flame red. I love it.
In June 2026, I decided to keep going, and look at doing some Advanced training. I did consider IAM but they meet in Chippenham. I saw that there was a local RoSPA group that meet at REME, so went along late July. No idea what to expect, in fact I very nearly didn’t go, but I thought what’s the worse that can happen, I’ll just come away if no good. What can I say. I couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome, chatting to several members, and it was just great. Even the latte wasn’t bad, so I signed up later that day.
My assigned tutor, Winston Castle rang me a few days later for a chat, and we met for my first assessed ride a week later in early August. Again, very nervous as I’m still a rookie, but what a fantastic coach, a lovely guy, and superb and gives good, honest constructive feedback. We are now onto lesson four next week, and it’s going really well from my assessments. I feel like we’ve known each other for ages now.
Winston knows that I’m retiring later this year and wanting to devote time to something charitable. I had considered Mountain Rescue or RNLI but there isn’t a big call for either in Wiltshire !!. The other one close to my heart is Blood Bikes, so, with Winston’s great feedback so far, it’s my focus, albeit at some distance at this stage . A big commitment I know, but let’s see…
No idea if I’ll be good enough but Winston is giving some great feedback, so I hope I get to the competence level needed.
In life, there’s only one way to find out, and that’s to do it. Better to try than not to try at all and enjoy it while you do. The journey continues.
Nick Moon
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Promotional activities
SkillShare - If you know someone who wants to learn about the Group bring them to the Saturday Social on the first Saturday of the Month at Crown's Cafe at the REME Museum in Lyneham.
Successfully supported by Wiltshire RoADAR motorcycle tutors and WABAM Observers. Dates for 2026 are below:
Teh final Bike Safe of the year is at Devizes Police Station on:
4 th October
If you have any ideas for events, then please get in touch with the committee using the committee email address :
Look forward to hearing and discussing your ideas.
Presentation material
A generic set of slides has been created for use if you are asked about Wiltshire RoADAR and have the opportunity to present. This could be at a local club, workplace etc. Please send a mail to committee@wiltshireroadar.co.uk and the slides will be sent over to you.
We also have flyers and business cards so ask for these via the same means.
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Tip Top motorcycle touring adventure!
After planning, organising and enjoying several motorcycle trips to places such as the Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees and Ireland, amongst others, Peter Genet has, along with a couple of advanced riding, albeit IAM, friends set-up www.tiptoptours.co.uk
These tours are encouraging riders to explore and enjoy more their riding amongst like-minded riders. After all, “I ride not to go anywhere, but to ride. I ride for riding’s sake. The great adventure is to ride!”
Bookings now being taken for 2027 including an early spring ride around northern Spain!
Look forward to seeing you soon!
Peter Genet |
Member's BMW GSA for sale
A very reluctant sale of my fantastic fully loaded BMW 1250 GSA, which I've owned since 2022. Only 14k miles in that time, mostly touring Northern Europe, its been a joy to ride. Fully kitted out for touring, with lots of additional extras, too many to list. An IAM & Rospa member who takes great care of his bikes, but having to stop riding sadly due to health reasons. Bargain at £12k, viewings welcomed, Marlborough.
Photos pending.
Please contact Nick Moon on nickmoon45@gmail.com
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Taking both Car and Bike tests?
We have a handful of people who have passed both their car and bike tests. If you wish to do the same it can be confusing as we include the training in your membership of Wiltshire RoADAR but your membership of RoSPA only covers free retests for one vehicle type. My thanks to Ryan Jones who clarified the situation with RoSPA.
If you are already a bike member, you can just pay for an interim car test @ £55. Your main membership would be bike (first one to pass) so "free" retests would be for bike. Each car retest would be same interim @ £55. Bike interim tests are £60.
The interim test is accessed from the RoSPA member area here:
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Booking a Retest
Please be aware you need to book your 3 yearly retest directly with RoSPA via their website. Sadly we cannot book it for you as it is all done electronically. You may also need to check when your re-test is due if you have not been paying your subscriptions to RoADAR as they will not remind you.
Tutors will be happy to conduct a refresh should you wish one prior to a re test.
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Membership and GDPR
Due to GDPR we are required to remove an individual's details from our Group database when they are no longer required by us. We remove a lapsed member's details if they have not paid a subscription by the 31 Dec (3 months after the subscriptions are due - 1 Oct). If a member has forgotten to pay their subs and pays after 31 Dec we will require a joining form to be completed so we can replace them on the database.
It all seems a bit strange, but we do not want to get on the wrong side of the Government's Information Commissioner. We understand if members forget or are late with their subscriptions, but please help us to keep our database accurate and compliant.
This is, of course, separate to those of you who maintain a membership with RoADAR HQ.
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I met recently, along with Hutch from Wiltshire Police BikeSafe, a group of bikers who have set up a new not-for-profit one stop site providing advice about rider safety, tips, organisations and personal stories.
Their advice is not just for bike riders, but also provides good advice for all road users.
Their site continues to grow and contains more and more interesting safety tips and advice for all road users, not just bikers.
Peter Genet
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Committee minutes
These are available from the Group Secretary if any member wishes to see them. If you are interested in reading the minutes, then please send a mail to the Group Secretary whom will promptly forward them onto you.
Test results
Reminder to let the Membership Secretary and your tutor know when you have taken your Advanced Driving/Riding Test and result. This is so our database is kept up to date; there is no need or pressure at all to have the result published on the website or in this newsletter if you wish to keep your result confidential.
If you have read this far, thanks! If you have any feedback or suggestions about content for your newsletter, then drop us a line at newsletter@wiltshireroadar.co.uk If you can't leave constructive feedback though, then we don't want to hear from you!
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