Ben Macfarlane enjoys life on the road as a highway patrol motorcyclist and VIP escort.  ‘I thought [being a VIP escort simply involved] a slow ride down the main street of Sydney ... I wasn’t aware of the other things involved.’ “I’ve been with the highway patrol since 1993. I’d wanted to be a police motorcyclist for years but it’s difficult to get onto a police bike because they are few and far between statewide.

Obviously you have to go through the recruitment process to become a police officer and perform some general duties before you can move into highway patrol and try to get yourself on a motorbike course and a bike. It’s certainly not an easy path.

[Being a VIP escort goes] above and beyond what normal motorcyclists do. There is certain training we have to do, such as formation riding, slow riding and contingences if something were to go wrong in an escort.

Sometimes you have to ride quite quickly to get to an intersection or block traffic from coming across the convoy, so there’s a bit more to it than a slow ride.

The motorcycles are there to facilitate a smoother drive through traffic. The guys on the bikes up the front are working particularly hard, and work up a sweat by the end of it. 

Most escorts are determined through the NSW Premier’s office. We do get low level requests for funerals, but the escorts are usually for foreign dignitaries. We don’t escort celebrities or politicians. It’s a security escort, not done as a show.

There was a stage after 9/11 when requests seemed to decrease slightly, as there were less dignitaries travelling to Australia; but it seems to have returned to more or less an even keel now.

I really enjoy doing escorts, but we’re also highway patrol people working to reduce road trauma. We ride almost exclusively BMWs: K1200s, R1150s and R1200s. They’re fairly standard but the modifications include a single seat, as we have no need for a dual seat, large side bags, and all the warning devices. We also have a speed detection unit onboard for stationary work. It’s an enjoyable way of life, but it’s riskier and you have to have your wits about you.”