In 2008, some 650 motorcyclists died on the roads. Almost 31,000 of those involved in accidents were injured, some seriously. The risk of an accident - relative to the number of vehicles - remains highest for motorcyclists (18 fatalities per 100,000 vehicles). These alarming figures from the accident data prompted the Insurers Accident Research (UDV) to engage the Department of Automotive Engineering at the Technische Universität Berlin and the Chair of Traffic Engineering at the Technische Universität Dresden to investigate for the first time the risk of accidents involving motorcyclists from a perspective that takes into account both automotive engineering and traffic engineering. As well as an analysis of more than 100,000 accidents involving motorcyclists across the whole of Germany, in-depth investigations were also carried out in the state of Saxony, because the data on accidents involving motorcyclists in this state has proved to be representative. 12,000 accidents involving motorized 2-wheel vehicles in Saxony between 2004 and 2006 formed the basis for the local detailed investigation. In this investigation, more than 200 stretches of road on which 1,600 accidents occurred were selected and paired up for comparison: Half of these stretches had attracted attention because a high concentration of motorcycle accidents occurred on them and these were contrasted with comparable stretches of road that did not stand out with respect to motorcycle accidents. With respect to the vehicles themselves, more than 1,300 records from the UDV database were evaluated in order to describe the specific influences of vehicle characteristics and driver behaviour. In addition, a survey of 6,879 motorcyclists was carried out in collaboration with the magazine „Motorrad“. The most frequent causes of accidents are still: * Excessive speed; * Overtaking errors; * Errors keeping distance; * Overestimation of one‘s abilities. The Insurers Accident Research (UDV) therefore teamed up with the German Road Safety Council (DVR) and the magazines „Tourenfahrer“ and „Motorradfahrer“ to bring into being the German Safety Tour (GST), initially for a period of three years. Former motorcycle racer Katja Poensgen is supporting the campaign. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting