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A different perspective on conspicuity related motorcycle crashes.
Saskia de Craen1, Michelle J A Doumen1, Yvette van Norden1
1SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Anticipatory Research, PO Box 93113, 2509 AC Den Haag, The Netherlands.
Accident; Analysis and Prevention
|December 3, 2013
Summary
Car drivers do not disproportionately fail to yield to motorcycles compared to other cars at perpendicular intersections. However, left-turning cars are more likely to fail to yield to oncoming motorcycles than oncoming cars.
Area of Science:
- Road safety research
- Traffic accident analysis
- Human factors in transportation
Background:
- Collisions between cars and motorcycles are a leading cause of motorcyclist fatalities, often occurring in priority situations.
- Existing research often focuses on why drivers fail to yield or on motorcycle conspicuity, with 'looked-but-failed-to-see' being a common factor.
- The high volume of cars on the road contributes to the frequency of car-motorcycle conflicts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if car drivers fail to yield to motorcycles more often than to other cars, accounting for exposure differences.
- To compare crash causes between car-motorcycle and car-car collisions at intersections.
- To analyze differences in yielding behavior between dual-licensed drivers and regular car drivers.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of intersection crash causes between car-motorcycle and car-car incidents.
- Examination of priority violations and other contributing factors in different crash types.
- Comparison of crash data involving dual drivers (car and motorcycle licenses) versus regular car drivers.
Main Results:
- Car drivers do not show a statistically significant tendency to fail to yield to motorcycles more than to cars when approaching from a perpendicular angle.
- A specific scenario emerged where motorcycles are disadvantaged: left-turning cars failing to yield to oncoming motorcycles.
- This left-turn failure-to-yield scenario is more frequent when the oncoming vehicle is a motorcycle compared to a car.
- No significant difference was found in the yielding behavior of dual drivers versus regular car drivers towards motorcycles versus cars.
Conclusions:
- Car drivers' failure to yield is not disproportionately higher for motorcycles than for cars at perpendicular intersections.
- The primary risk identified is left-turning cars failing to yield to oncoming motorcycles.
- Motorcycle safety interventions could benefit from addressing this specific left-turn conflict scenario.
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