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WHEELS MCC SKILLS and SAFETY CAMPAIGN - Skills Section
'STAYING ALIVE' NAME OF THE GAME - Dave Abrahams
Many of us wouldn't know what to do if one of our buddies fell and was injured on a ride - the straightforward basics that'll keep him alive until the paramedics get there, such as keeping air passages open and simply wadding a clean handkerchief over a bleeding wound.
Which is why Abdul Anderson and Abubaker Hunter from Red Alert gave up their Sunday to be part of last weekend's Wheels Skills and Safety campaign in Brackenfell near Cape Town, to show the participants just those basics.
It wasn't scare tactics – just vital information that could help save the life of somebody you know.
The "ER" demonstration was part of the theory segment of Sunday's first phase of the campaign, which included tips on safety gear (wear it - all the time!) and how to give your bike a quick safety check before you ride.
The reason the old-timers grab a handful of brakes as they swing a leg over their machines is not only to stop the bikes from rolling off their side-stands but also as a pre-takeoff check that the brakes are actually working!
Then it was out on to the training ground of the Gene Louw college in Brackenfell for a a series of riding exercises, some from the K53 licence test and some based on real-world riding scenarios, such as the much-feared collision avoidance run, where a flashing light tells you at the last possible moment which way to duck, and an emergency braking exercise that scared the hell out of some of the scooter ridersThe rider had to duck under a low bar while still staying between the lines.
Too many scooters, even modern ones, have more powerful brakes on the rear wheel than the front and skid very easily in a panic-braking scenario.
There was a "keep it on the straight and narrow" test that called on the skills we all use to cut through the gridlock – but with an extra twist in the form of a low bar the rider had to duck under while still staying between the lines – and a steering exercise so tight it looked impossible until despatch rider Peter Williams went through it like a dose of salts on his employer's Vespa Granturismo.
33 riders ranging in age from 16 to 66 took part on an astonishing variety of machinery and every one I spoke to said they'd learned something new about themselves or their bikes.
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