Hampshire mother of teenager killed in collision calls for road safety initiative to be nationalised
The SmartRide initiative works with young motorcyclists to keep them safer on the roads
The Hampshire mother of a teenager who died in a motorcycle accident's backing calls for a road safety initiative to be deployed nationally.
Emma Wilding's son Taylor was 19 when he was killed in a motorbike collision in June last year.
She is now working with the SmartRide scheme, introduced earlier this year across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which aims to make young drivers safer on our roads.
She said: "Had this been around before Taylor was killed, he'd have absolutely been made to go on it.
"I think he might still be here.
"It might sound a bit cheesy, but I believe with my whole heart that SmartRide will stop other families from living this nightmare."
What is SmartRide?
Sergeant Tom Waller leads SmartRide and is telling us about the initiative.
He said: "Op SmartRide is something that I've created with a colleague of mine called PC Neil Roberts.
"We both have been to obviously quite a few instances involving young people who sadly have died as a result of motorcycle collisions.
"Because of that, we decided there's a bit of a gap for education of younger and inexperienced riders, mainly those who are on CBT or L plates on the smaller bikes.
"It's a session, obviously run by the police, where we invite young and inexperienced motorcyclists to come in and it's free.
"The first part is a few hours in the classroom where we educate them on various things which can be sort of road safety related.
"So hazards on the road, things like anticipating other people's movements or what road signs and markings are telling you, and how that should affect your ride.
"Then how they can take all that information to make them a bit safer on the road.
"The second part is then called an observed ride, so it's not tuition, but we follow them around for a while, stop at various points, where we debrief and feedback what they've done and what they could do better."
The initiative was rolled out across Hampshire and Isle of Wight counties earlier this year, and Sergeant Waller says it's already saving lives.
Taylor's story
Taylor was 19 when he died in a road traffic collision in June 2025.
His mum, Emma Wilding is telling us about him.
She said: "He was my baby boy, despite being six foot three and often patting me on the head.
"Obviously I was his mum, so I thought he was incredible, but he's described as endlessly kind and would help anyone.
"A few weeks before he was killed, he was riding his motorbike and saw someone had been knocked off of their bicycle and just cars and other motorcyclists were going straight past him.
"Taylor stopped and made sure that the young man was okay.
"He was a mechanic and days away from starting his new job, his dream job, and he was so excited.
"He had a big group of friends and he was just fantastic."
Since Taylor died, Emma's been helping on the SmartRide courses, sharing Taylor's story and talking to young motorcyclists.
She said: "It allows the officers who are such experienced riders to impart their knowledge in a really good, meaningful way.
"I suppose a bonus to this course is the relationship with the police and young riders changes because that is a helping relationship.
"I've been on all the courses that have been delivered and it's amazing to see, and it's a privilege, an absolute privilege to be a part of it.
"I also get to talk about Taylor as well, so that makes my heart happy."
What are the next steps for SmartRide?
Sergeant Waller says he wants to see the scheme introduced nationally.
He said: "I think every force needs something like this.
"It does make people safer.
"We've had feedback from parents whose children have attended the course, and they're motorcyclists as well, and they've said they've noticed a real confidence boost and improvement in their child's riding ability as a result of going on the course.
"They feel that they're far safer on the roads now that they've attended it.
"Ideally we'd like this to go national so every force takes it on, so that we can share that learning around people with the ultimate aim to reduce further tragedies on the road.
"It's not nice for police officers having to go to these incidents, and it's horrendous for the families of those involved, so we just want to stop that or minimise it as much as we can."