A £1.2 million THINK! campaign urging drivers to see the person behind the motorcycle helmet has been launched by Road Safety Minister Mike Penning.

The TV adverts show bikers with flashing neon signs attached to their bikes. The signs show the rider’s name and information about them such as ‘shy retiring type’ or ‘new dad’. The voiceover at the end asks drivers to look out for motorcyclists next time they are out driving.

Research for the new ‘Named Riders’ campaign showed that drivers are more likely to notice motorcyclists on the roads if they know a biker themselves.  The adverts put motorcyclists at the centre of the campaign in a bid to tackle the huge over-representation of motorcyclists in road casualty figures. Despite only accounting for 1% of traffic, motorcyclists make up 22% of deaths on Britain’s roads.

Mike Penning said: "As a biker myself I know how great motorcycling can be but as Road Safety Minister I know that the statistics show bikers are tragically over-represented in road casualties and I want to see this number come down."

He concluded: "The campaign aims to get drivers to think again about how they look at bikers when they’re out on the road.  I hope this will help to reduce the number of bikers killed and injured in crashes with cars."

The new ‘Named Riders’ TV campaign started on Friday 2 March with radio and petrol station advertising running from Saturday 10 March.

Watch the advert on YouTube ‘Think Biker TV commercial’.

Photo: Two of the 'Named Riders' featured in the 'Think Biker' TV advertisement.