00:00 My wife, same thing, she was a developed chest rider. She had two accidents in the last seven
00:08 years and the last one would have paralysed her. A car driver just drove straight through
00:14 her from behind at an island and it was the air vest that actually kept her spine aligned
00:20 and rigid and she walked away from it.
00:22 Motorcyclists face disproportionate risks on the road, accounting for between 1 and
00:28 3% of users but representing 13% of casualties and a staggering 20% of deaths.
00:34 Road safety charity I Am Road Smart wants more of the 1.4 million bikers on UK roads
00:40 to consider upgrading their safety gear.
00:43 What we want to ensure is that they are as safe as possible with the equipment that they
00:48 have on their bikes. Helmets of course mandatory, but what we're really encouraging is people
00:53 to consider air jackets which provide up to 50 times the kind of protection that you might
01:02 get from an ordinary jacket.
01:04 Despite advancements in safety technology and personal protective equipment, over 88,000
01:11 motorcyclists are injured on UK roads annually. Affordability of the right gear remains a
01:15 major concern, especially through the cost of living crisis.
01:19 Our argument is really to encourage the government to bring down the VAT rating on protective
01:29 equipment, personal protective equipment and in particular air jackets in much the same
01:34 way as the government has in previous times around helmets.
01:39 On the 1st of June 2018, Lee came off a prototype bike he was testing and was thrown into a
01:45 car at over 52 miles an hour. Luckily he was wearing one of these air vests. He spent three
01:51 weeks in hospital with his injuries, but firmly believes he would not be alive today without
01:55 the safety kit he invested in.
01:57 I'd like to say I walked away from it. I snapped my left leg off and I broke my right
02:02 hip, but I hit the car with the full force of my back and I didn't sustain one upper
02:07 body injury at all. So when they got me to the John Radcliffe, they put me in the MRI
02:13 machine and they kept putting me in and kept putting me in and taking me out and putting
02:17 me in and in the end I said, is there a problem? They said, we think there's a problem with
02:20 our machine because we can't actually, going from your crash record, we can't actually
02:25 find any broken bones in your put up. To be fair, you shouldn't even be talking to us.
02:29 My final question for you, if there's anyone watching at home who like you is a motorcyclist,
02:34 loves to go out on the roads, but they don't quite have all the right kit, what would be
02:38 your sort of message to them?
02:40 Getting the price down will make it more accessible to people and getting the mindset.
02:45 I think a hundred pound would be the average cost of a VAT over different air products.
02:50 I think that will be a big help and it obviously is changing people's mindset into this is
02:55 a product that really will benefit you and your loved ones, you know, it really will.
