Full Throttle gets on two wheels

A YOUTH-WORK project is helping young people move away from illegal motor-biking and towards getting road legal, discovers Sarah Carré.

Having worked with youths for 20 years, Daniel Harris, who lives in Canterbury, wanted to combine his youth work with his interest in motorbikes. He created Full Throttle in 2004. The aim of the scheme is to promote safe and responsible motor-biking to Kent’s young people, to teach them discipline and demonstrate how illegal motor-biking can affect their community and future generations of young riders.

Daniel runs one weekly project a month. He said: “Many adults and people in authority see young riders as a danger on the road and a nuisance in the community. Full Throttle’s aim is to help give young riders the best training and encourage them to stick to two wheels in the long term. We also aim to teach them about responsible citizenship.”

The 42-year-old added: “We have four adults and four young people working with Full Throttle. It helps to have young people onboard as there is a level of peer education.”

There is also a ‘Safari’ project, a 24-hour endurance ride including overnight camping and survival training, which is based on the TV program Long Way Round. Daniel said: “Ours is a bit like the short way round. The bikes are provided by Full Throttle and have helped put over 200 people through motorbike training in the last two years."

Daniel is currently running a young women’s project at the King Ethelbert School in Thanet, in a bid to get more young ladies involved. He said: “We also run Kent Youth Bikers, which is a club where our young riders can gain better skills to help them through their full test. It also provides a long-term relationship with them.”

If you would like further information about Full Throttle’s youth projects, please visit www.kyb.org.uk