Mike’s Last Ride
A road policing chief inspector who tragically lost his father in a motorbike collision has written a book as a memory to his life on the road
Mike Mangan, father of chief inspector David Mangan from Lancashire Police, died in September 2013 aged 72, after he was involved in a collision with an oncoming vehicle whilst overtaking. Mike was a retired electrical engineer and was on the last 10 miles of a 320-mile journey. His family believes that tiredness was a contributory factor in his death.
Over the years as a police officer, chief inspector Mangan had attended many serious and fatal road collisions. On the day in question, he was present at the scene of a motorcycle accident, however this time he was off duty on his own bike and the rider who had been killed was his father. They had both been out riding together travelling from Land’s End to Minehead.
“My dad was a keen and experienced biker. He was a trained advanced motorcycle observer and used to teach other motorcyclists how they could stay safe on the roads. He got me into bikes when I was around 10 years old and used to take me on the back of his bike to watch the bike racing at Oulton Park. Over the last few years we used to tour Europe together with friends.”
Chief inspector Mangan decided to use this tragic incident to help educate other riders and in 2014 he created a video called ‘Mike’s Last Ride.’ The emotional video tells the story of what happened on that day and is a reminder to anyone riding a bike about the dangers faced when riding whilst tired.
“When bikers are making a long journey, towards the end they may start to feel tired and lose concentration. It is really important that riders recognise this and adjust their riding to the conditions. Even experienced riders can make errors of judgement which can result in serious consequences,” added chief inspector Mangan, who also uses the video on YouTube to show at biking shows and events.
In 2017 after the success of the video, he published his first book about the accident. Entitled Last Ride, the book has been a way for chief inspector Mangan to help with the grief and his loss and to help others who have been through a similar situation.
“It wasn’t easy to write,” he says. “The early part of the book took six months and then 18 months to get the difficult parts down. I found it very challenging and would write a few pages and then find it too emotional. I talk about our joint love of motorbikes in a light-hearted way and our trips around Europe, before moving on to the accident. A friend helped me to edit it, but in total it took me two and a half years to get it right and I wasn’t able to re-read it.”
He has completely self-funded the book, which is available on Kindle and Lulu. Before writing it, his only experience had been writing statements for the police so to get it published was a huge achievement.
Chief inspector Mangan believes education is key and every year travels to the Isle of Man TT races in June with colleagues to talk to riders about safety, as he says, you need to ride to survive.
“The risks of motorcycling are considerably greater than for other road users,” he adds, “with 60 per cent of bikers omitting to do something and be partly to blame in their accident.”
Initiatives such as Bike Safe, which is a police led motorcycle project run by most police forces throughout the UK, have the aim of reducing the number of bikers being hurt on the roads. It explores the main riding hazards that bikers face and help you discover your strengths and weaknesses and how to get more from your biking. To book on one of its courses visit www.bikesafe.co.uk.
Chief inspector Mangan and other officers from the road policing team will also be at key biker meet ups across Lancashire over the summer. They are definitely worth a visit to pick up some valuable safety tips and they could even save your life.
