Background

The aim of the research activities within the MOTORIST project was to make the use of Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) safer such that fewer accidents occur, and if an accident is unavoidable, the injuries reported by the rider are minimised.

The project was divided into three work packages (WPs) addressing three separate but related goals. 

1. 1. The first work package aimed to improve the rider's skills through training strategies derived from in-depth accident data analysis and quantification of rider behaviour in critical riding situations.

   2. The second work package aimed to develop advanced safety systems that improve the interaction between the rider and the PTW by modelling the rider according to the quantification of the rider's behaviour.

   3. The third work package considered the cases where the crash is unavoidable and developed personal protective equipment to protect the riders, given the input conditions and in-depth accident data analysis at the moment right before impact.

The result of this project was 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, which will make more people prefer using a PTW to other means of transport.

Objectives

The research of MOTORIST focused on making PTW use safer through a clear strategy pursued according to the following specific objectives:

1. An improvement in PTW safety can be achieved by enhancing and optimizing the methods for rider training, with special attention to young riders (the most exposed to being involved in an accident) and elderly riders (because of the increasing mean age in Europe). In fact, the riders are fundamental actors in road safety improvement, and they significantly influence the probability of accidents happening with their risk assessment, decision making and control riding skills.

2. The safety improvement can 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)

3. Addressing unavoidable crashes, personal protective equipment for the rider is developed, supported by the information collected from the event prior to the impact.

MOTORIST used a multidisciplinary approach to rider behaviour, training, active safety and passive safety. The resulting expertise, training methods, and PTW innovations were disseminated to stakeholders (some are also MOTORIST Associated Partners on rider training), bringing valuable links to the EU Motorcycle Industry and to the PTW or components industry. Design improvements to PTW-related products are foreseen. The Project was active from February  1, 2014 till January  31, 2018 

Public Deliverables

• Rider training equipment

• Report on rider training on a motorcycle test rig

• Rider training: testing and evaluation 

• (Rider) profiling and modelling state of the art

• Rider model validation 

• Accident statistics 

• Accident reconstruction 

• Use of new dissipative materials in PPE 

• Standards in PPE, a survey 

• New guidelines for standards 

Consortium

Full Beneficiaries

• Università degli Studi di Firenze

• Delft University of Technology

• Università degli studi di Padova,

• University of West Bohemia

• Université de Strasbourg

• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU)

• Siemens Industry Software NV

• Dainese S.p.A.

Associated Partners

• TNO

Supervisory Board

• Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles (ACEM)

• Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA)

• ESI Group

• MOOG

• Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV)