MOTORIST

BACKGROUND: The aim of the research activities within the project MOTORIST is to make the use of Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) safer such that fewer accidents occur and if an accident is unavoidable the consequences for the rider to sustain injuries are minimal. The project is divided in three work packages (WPs) addressing three separate but related goals. The first work package aims to improve the rider’s skills by training strategies that are derived from in-depth accident data analysis and from a quantification of rider behaviour in critical riding situations. The second work package aims at developing advanced safety systems that improve the interaction between the rider and the PTW by modelling the rider, also according to the quantification of riders behaviour carried out on. The third work package considers the cases where the crash is unavoidable and will develop personal protective equipment to protect the riders, given the input conditions in-depth accident data analysis at the moment right before impact. The end result of this project will be a set of effective rider training guidelines, safety system concepts implemented on PTWs and improved personal protective equipment and accompanying standards. These results can be used by PTW industry partners in product development processes and by stakeholders to educate riders. The latter aspect will definitely improve the PTWs safety  and moreover the perception of safety as well, which will make more people prefer the use a PTW as to other means of transport.

OBJECTIVES: The research of MOTORIST ITN will focus on making PTW use safer, through a clear strategy that will be pursued according to the following specific objectives:

• Firstly an improvement of PTW safety will be achieved by enhancing and optimizing the methods for rider training, with special attention to young riders (the most exposed to be involved into an accident) and elderly riders (because of the increasing mean age in Europe). In fact the riders are a fundamental actor of the road safety improvement is and they significantly influence the probability of accidents to happen with their risk assessment, decision making and control riding skills.
• Secondly the safety improvement will be achieved by developing active safety systems that improve the interaction between the rider and the PTW, with particular attention to the urban environment (where the PTW use is more prevalent and where traffic scenarios are more complex)
• Thirdly, addressing unavoidable crashes, personal protective equipment for the rider will be developed, supported by the information collected from the event prior to the impact.

MOTORIST will use a multidisciplinary approach of rider behaviour, training, active safety and passive safety. The resulting expertise, training methods, and PTW innovations will be of high interest to stakeholders (some of them are also involved as MOTORIST Associated Partners, on rider training) and they will bring fundamental links to the EU Motorcycle Industry and moreover to the PTW or components industry since design improvements to PTW related products are foreseen.