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FEMA member SMC offers free training to bike buyers in Sweden

Buying a new motorcycle is usually associated with great joy and happiness, whether you have had a motorcycle before, or if it is the very first bike you just bought. The Swedish Motorcyclists Association, SMC, wants to contribute to keep that nice feeling among the new owners by teaching them how handle the new motorcycle. Meanwhile the risk of being involved in an accident is reduced.

In April 2016 there was an increase in the registration of new motorcycles in Sweden with 12 percent compared to last year. More and more Swedes discover the joy of a life on two wheels. Statistics of road accidents, however, shows that until now it has been higher accident risk for those who recently bought a motorcycle compared to those who owned the motorcycle for one or more years. About half of those who died on a motorcycle had owned it less than a year. The cause of the accident is often a lack of riding skills and knowledge. This will be changed by SMC together with the Motorcycle industry by inviting every buyer of a new motorcycle to a rider training in SMC School.

Modern motorcycles are often equipped with advanced technology such as advanced ABS systems, tire pressure monitoring system and traction control. Since 2011, the Swedish market only provided bikes with ABS if it was available on the current motorcycle model. From 2016, all motorcycles above 125 cc have ABS brakes. Modern motorcycles have developed to a level we hardly thought was possible a few years ago, when phenomena as wobble was still discussed among motorcyclists. Now there are chassis, tires, safety systems, ABS and traction control that makes riding safer and even more fun than before.

Jesper Christensen
Jesper Christensen

“It’s not the motorcycles that causes accidents. It’s the humans and human errors. When we learn to handle the amazing bikes we ride, we can enjoy them to 100 percent,” says Jesper Christensen, General Secretary at SMC.

Therefore, SMC and the motorcycle producers in Sweden take a comprehensive traffic safety grip. Everyone who buys a new motorcycle, from the most common brands, gets a road safety education with SMC, one of the largest motorcycle organizations in the world with rider education. The producers in this collaboration are: BMW, Indian, Victory, Yamaha, Ducati, Piaggio, Moto Guzzi, Vespa, Honda and Triumph.

Jesper Christensen adds: “This is a major investment for SMC with a potential cost peak close to one million Euro´s, if all buyers take a training session and even enjoy the free test membership. But, our members are riding 80% of all motorcycle kilometres, so just in savings costs with less accidents may payback in reduced insurance premiums for our members.”

SMC School offers more than 250 training events each year. SMC has more than 500 trained instructors and further more than 300 persons in the crew, who work voluntarily for SMC’s 71,000 members and other motorcyclists to become safer riders. SMC will continue to certify the training courses via the standard recommended by the European motorcycle industry ACEM.

Further information, please contact:
Swedish Motorcyclist Association (SMC)
Jesper Christensen
Email: jesper.christensen@svmc.se
Tel: +46 705577500

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