Motorcycling as a whole is on the up, and IAM Roadsmart would be foolish to ignore a growing pool of potential members.
Last month, Motorcycle News reported that “it might be hard to fathom but 2021 was one of the strongest years for biking in well over a decade, with new bike sales on the increase and more people joining the two-wheeled fold. Anecdotal evidence from training schools up and down the country was of a huge surge of people wanting to get into motorcycling and now the latest stats confirm it.”
MCN wrote:June to September of 2021 were standout months for bike tests, with nearly 28,000 examinations taken during the summer alone. The last time the numbers of bike tests even came close was in November and December 2012, with a huge rush of young riders getting tests completed ahead of the January 2013 adoption of the 3rd European Licence Directive and the changes to A2 licensing.
Unlike 2013 though, these stats don’t look like a blip, with consistently high numbers throughout the year with 7034, 7116, 6641 and 6897 tests taken during each month from June.
It can’t all be put down to be pent-up demand from lockdown either, as car tests have settled back to pre-pandemic levels.
I have found that new riders can often be the most open to joining. However, most bikers will be turned off by messages like “80 mph is as bad a drink or drug driving” and “1 mph over the speed limit increases your crash risk by 5%”.