Bob
13th July 2004, 01:18
The results of MAIDS, the ‘Motorcycle Accidents In Depth Study’, the first complete European detailed study of motorcycle accidents, have been released *.
Results show in 60% of accidents a car was involved and in 50% of these cases, the car driver was to blame. Also, the travelling and impact speeds for all powered two wheeler (PTW) categories involved were found to be low, most often below 30mph.
Human error was found to be the cause of the majority of accidents, the most frequent being a failure by others to see the bike/scooter within the traffic environment, either due to a lack of driver attention, temporary view obstructions or the low conspicuity.
These observations are supported by the following figures:
In 50% of cases, the primary accident-contributing factor was human error on the part of the other driver. Over 70% of the other driver’s errors were failure to perceive the PTW. Interestingly, other vehicle drivers holding PTW licences were more likely to see a PTW.
In over 70% of the cases the PTW impact speeds were below 30 mph. However, in 18% of all cases, PTW travelling speeds were either greater or less than the surrounding traffic flow and this speed difference was considered to be a contributing factor.
Over 73% of all PTW riders attempted some form of collision avoidance immediately prior to impact. Of these, 32% experienced some type of loss of control during the manoeuvre. In 13% of all cases, there was a decision failure on the part of the PTW rider in choosing a poor or incorrect collision avoidance strategy or failure to see the other vehicle.
The low involvement of riders between 41 and 55 years of age suggested they may have a lower risk of being involved in an accident.
Modified machines were found to be over-represented in the accident data thus indicting a greater risk. No other style of bike showed an increased risk. It should be noted that technical machine problems featured in less than 1% of the accidents and most of these were related to the tyres. There were no accidents caused by design or manufacturing defects.
Weather-related problems caused or contributed in only 7.4% of accidents cases
* MAIDS was carried out by the Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) with the support of the European Commission and other partners, including the BMF, FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme), FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations) and CIECA, (the international commission for driver testing authorities). The investigations were carried out over a three year period into 921 accidents from five countries France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy.
Results show in 60% of accidents a car was involved and in 50% of these cases, the car driver was to blame. Also, the travelling and impact speeds for all powered two wheeler (PTW) categories involved were found to be low, most often below 30mph.
Human error was found to be the cause of the majority of accidents, the most frequent being a failure by others to see the bike/scooter within the traffic environment, either due to a lack of driver attention, temporary view obstructions or the low conspicuity.
These observations are supported by the following figures:
In 50% of cases, the primary accident-contributing factor was human error on the part of the other driver. Over 70% of the other driver’s errors were failure to perceive the PTW. Interestingly, other vehicle drivers holding PTW licences were more likely to see a PTW.
In over 70% of the cases the PTW impact speeds were below 30 mph. However, in 18% of all cases, PTW travelling speeds were either greater or less than the surrounding traffic flow and this speed difference was considered to be a contributing factor.
Over 73% of all PTW riders attempted some form of collision avoidance immediately prior to impact. Of these, 32% experienced some type of loss of control during the manoeuvre. In 13% of all cases, there was a decision failure on the part of the PTW rider in choosing a poor or incorrect collision avoidance strategy or failure to see the other vehicle.
The low involvement of riders between 41 and 55 years of age suggested they may have a lower risk of being involved in an accident.
Modified machines were found to be over-represented in the accident data thus indicting a greater risk. No other style of bike showed an increased risk. It should be noted that technical machine problems featured in less than 1% of the accidents and most of these were related to the tyres. There were no accidents caused by design or manufacturing defects.
Weather-related problems caused or contributed in only 7.4% of accidents cases
* MAIDS was carried out by the Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) with the support of the European Commission and other partners, including the BMF, FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme), FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations) and CIECA, (the international commission for driver testing authorities). The investigations were carried out over a three year period into 921 accidents from five countries France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Italy.