According to federal statistics, in 2013 a total of 27,186 drivers and passengers of motorcycles had an accident involving injuries. Of these, 568 motorcyclists were killed because of their injury severity. With a current number of about 4 million motorcycles in Germany, there is a more than an eight times higher possibility to have an accident than with a car, comparing the driven mileage of both vehicles. Considering the death rate, the risk is even about 21 times higher for motorcyclists. A total of 194 traffic accidents involving motorcycles, which was assumed in advance that the motorcyclists suffered injuries, were analysed and documented by interdisciplinary teams of researchers, such as doctors and accident analysts, during the period from May 2010 to December 31st 2011 in the Saarland area as part of a research project. The accidents were analysed both technically and from a medical point of view. In particular, analysis of the accident sequence, the cause of the accident and the injuries of the people involved. Approximately 21% of the analysed traffic accidents were single-vehicle accidents. If the remaining cases are considered, it should be noted that only every third accident was caused by the motorcyclist. The accident opponents were mainly cars. The accidents most frequently occurred while turning into crossroads. Considering design and performance of the motorcycle, sports motorcycles showed above-average frequency in single-vehicle accidents and self-inflicted accidents, whereas ‘Tourer’ and ‘Choppers’ were rarely involved in accidents. Most single-vehicle accidents were caused by motorcyclists between 21 and 30 years of age. In addition, almost half of the single-vehicle accidents occurred on weekends (Saturday and Sunday). Regular driver training could reduce the risk of accidents significantly. It would also be beneficial to improve the active safety for motorcycles by the use of technical assistance systems (e.g. ABS with skew detection, distance radar). Even on the roads, it is conceivable to reduce the risk of accidents by appropriate actions. Here it would be possible to significantly reduce the risk of any accident consequences for motorcyclists through the use of underride protection, attached to guardrails. Also the use of rumble strips to achieve a speed reduction on accident-prone roads would be beneficial. (Author/publisher)
Abstract