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A senior officer from the Hong Kong Police Force is visiting Manchester this week to learn more about the city’s innovative approach to road and cycle safety.
Police inspector Alice Lee Chau-yin is being shown around the city to meet leading figures in the field of road safety by award-winning cycle training provider BikeRight!, beginning at Oswald Road Primary School in Chorlton, South Manchester.
She will see how BikeRight! encourages road safety in youngsters through the organisation’s popular Bikeability programme that reaches 3,500 children across Greater Manchester every year.
As the largest provider of cyclist training and development solutions in the UK, BikeRight! runs some of the country’s landmark cycling programmes in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle. Employing permanent staff and freelance instructors, the organisation trains over 20,000 children and adults every year, enthusing individuals, communities and organisations through consultation, promotion, training, travel planning and the provision of bikes and equipment.
The visit has come about after BikeRight! directors Liz Clarke and Jo Somerset visited Hong Kong in February 2016 to begin a process of sharing best practice across urban environments to improve road safety. They also met the Hong Kong executive director for transportation from Aecom – the international transport consultancy which is BikeRight!’s partner in the UK – and discussed the construction of cycle routes for which Aecom are expert engineering consultants.
Alice Lee Chau-yin, police inspector in road safety traffic, New Territories North said:
“Having met representatives from BikeRight! in Hong Kong earlier this year, we were keen to find out more about how the organisation tackles issues around road safety in the urban environment. Having spent time watching the way that pupils at Manchester schools are taught the Bikeability programme, I can see that confidence is key to getting children and young adults passionate about safe, sustainable transport.”
Liz Clarke, BikeRight!’s director, commented:
“We have taught 1.5 million schoolchildren since the Bikeability programme started in 2005 and that’s had a real impact on the confidence and safety of children right across the UK.
“We’re really pleased to be helping our contacts in Hong Kong as they look for strategic ways to increase road safety on their streets and look forward to a fruitful relationship of consultation across two modern cities.”
