Motorcycle riders are among the most vulnerable road users. Annually, on estimate 6,000 people are killed in motorcycle accidents in the former 15 EU countries. The objective of this research was to investigate and analyze the main aspects and causes of this vulnerability and the accidents in general. For this aim around 70 accidents in the Netherlands were investigated in the framework of an international research program (MAIDS). Also a control group of motorcycle riders was investigated so that exposure could be taken into account. An important result is that human failure is in 82 percent of the cases the main cause of the accident, in 52 percent this is due to other vehicle drivers. Perception and decision failures are the most common failures. The most injuries are caused by the environment but they are typically less severe (AIS1). Injuries caused by the car (front and side) are typically severe injuries (AIS4+). Previous convictions of the MC rider seem to be related to the chance to get involved in an accident. It was shown that the Dutch and the total MAIDS accident sample are comparable. (A) Paper to the 1st International ESAR Conference on 3rd/4th September 2004 at Hannover Medical School (Germany), Session: Vulnerable Road Users. For the covering abstract see ITRD D355457.
Abstract