A different perspective on conspicuity related motorcycle crashes

Modeling the influence of safety aid market penetration on traffic safety: Case of collision warning system for powered two-wheelers

Every year, several thousand powered two-wheeler (PTW) i.e., motorcycle, moped and scooter drivers and passengers die in traffic accidents in the EU. Despite the much higher risk of death and injuries for PTW vs. car users, there is a three-fold lack regarding collision warning technologies for PTWs: lack of research, lack of regulation and lack of availability in the market. Many injuries occur in rear-end collisions, when PTW is struck from the rear by another vehicle. In this paper we present a hybrid, multi-method simulation model that allows simulation of various situations in which a vehicle may collide with the rear end of a PTW. We have used this model to estimate the potential impact of market penetration of a novel PTW ESS + RECAS system, named MEBWS (Motorcycle Emergency Braking Warning System), within the EU on the number of traffic accidents and their consequences, which would contribute to the EU "Vision Zero" goal: "reduce road deaths to almost zero by 2050". MEBWS has been developed at the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto and patented. Simulation results using EU traffic accident data show that with 100% market penetration of the MEBWS system in the EU, the total number of PTW rear-end collisions would decrease by 29.50%. This reduction would result in fewer injuries and a decrease in economic crash costs by €43,145,172, according to the standard EU methodology. With the MEBWS system enabled, the number of traffic accidents in the standard rear-end collision emergency braking scenarios Moto, normal drive, Moto, emergency stop and Moto, not moving decreased by 33.15%, 27.76% and 28.76%, respectively. In cases where the collision could not be prevented due to slow response of the following driver or very high relative speed of the vehicles, MEBWS reduced the relative speed at impact, resulting in a reduction of injury severity by up to 11.198%, as estimated by the amount of kinetic energy released at collision.

Motorcycle Conspicuity Issues and Intervention: A Systematic Review

Background

Conspicuity has been one of the key factors in motorcycle road crashes around the world. The inability and difficulty of other road users in detecting motorcycles either at day or at night have contributed to conspicuity related motorcycle crashes. This literature review attempts to understand the motorcycle conspicuity issues in road traffic. The review also analyses relevant types of conspicuity intervention in terms of its effectiveness in enhancing motorcycle conspicuity that had been discussed in past studies.

Methods

Using specific keywords and search terms, relevant articles were screened, identified and analyzed systematically using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results

Twenty-seven final articles were reviewed and found that almost every part of motorcycle and motorcyclist's conspicuity intervention have been covered in past studies. In terms of conspicuity aids, the majority of past studies discussed conspicuity enhancement in the frontal area, particularly on motorcycle daytime running headlight (DRH) color and configurations. Few other studies have discussed in other areas, particularly on rear running and brake light and motorcycle color. There were also numerous studies looking at motorcyclists' appearances in terms of their attire and helmet color.

Conclusion

Motorcycle and motorcyclist's appearances are highly associated with the risk of motorcycle crashes. The most important part of enhancing motorcycle conspicuity is to ensure motorcycle appearance is always in contrast with the road traffic environment.

The injury epidemiology of adult riders in vehicle-two-wheeler crashes in China, Ningbo, 2011-2015

INTRODUCTION

We used road crashes between vehicles and two-wheelers from Yinzhou District Ningbo in 2011-2015 from the China In-depth Accident Study (CIDAS) as sample cases. The risk factors of different injury severity grades were analyzed.

METHOD

The classification tree model was used to screen the possible interaction items, and the corresponding regression model was constructed according to the results of the tree model to explore the influencing factors of cyclist injury.

RESULTS

The road types, weather types, gender, age of the riders, and vehicle speed were significantly correlated with the dependent variables. The interaction effect of gender*road type, weather*age, weather*speed and speed*age were obtained through a tree model.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of male casualties at the crossroads was 3.31 times higher than that of female casualties at the straight roads. On sunny days, the risk of crash casualties in Ningbo was low, and the fatality risk when the speed reached 38 km/h was 10%. Under the interaction effect of weather and age, the fatality risk in cloudy/foggy and rainy days was almost coincident, and the serious risk in cloudy/foggy conditions was the highest. Practical applications: Through factor analysis, it is confirmed that there is interaction effect among the factors, and it can provide reference for relevant departments to formulate more targeted and effective governance strategies.

On the Dynamics of Conspicuity

OBJECTIVE

To examine the influences of dynamic conspicuity on object recognition and to evaluate the real-world implications of these processes.

BACKGROUND

Conspicuity is the major influence on persons' abilities to recognize the presence of entities within their environment. Shortfalls in sensory and cognitive conspicuity are implicated in many, if not most, real-world systemic failures.

METHOD

The present observations derive from an overview of relevant empirical research allied to a synthetic integration. From these foundations, I articulate a proposed taxonomy through which to parse the essential dimensions of conspicuity.

RESULTS

The taxonomy features three axes related to (a) modality (e.g., visual vs. auditory, etc.), (b) processing directionality (e.g., top-down vs. bottom-up information flow), and finally (c) temporality (i.e., the differences between static vs. dynamic presentations).

CONCLUSION

Existing conspicuity studies have primarily featured static, sensory comparisons. Exploration of the other quadrants of the proposed taxonomy can serve to frame future conspicuity research. This taxonomic description also provides the basis from which to understand failure etiology in a wide spectrum of human-machine systems.

APPLICATION

Improvements in the understanding of conspicuity can help in all domains of HF/E and can serve to reduce failure in a wide variety of operational contexts.

Allocating Attention to Detect Motorcycles: The Role of Inattentional Blindness

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether inattentional blindness (IB) can be used to understand the psychological mechanisms around looked-but-failed-to-see (LBFTS) crashes involving motorcycles Background: IB occurs when an observer looks directly at an object yet fails to see it, thus LBFTS crashes may be a real-world example of IB. The study tests a perceptual cycle model in which motorcycles are detected less frequently because they fall lower on the attentional hierarchy for driving.

METHOD

A driving-related IB task with photographs of driving situations investigated whether an additional stimulus, a taxi or motorcycle, would be more likely to be missed by participants. In Experiments 2 and 3, the "threat value" of objects in the scene were varied to determine the degree to which this influences participants' tendency to notice motorcycles.

RESULTS

Participants were twice as likely to miss a motorcycle compared with a taxi. Moreover, participants reported that they would expect to miss a motorcycle on the road. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants modulated their attention to accommodate motorcycles when necessary, suggesting that motorcycles are afforded the lowest level of attentional bandwidth.

CONCLUSION

Inattentional blindness forms a good psychological framework for understanding LBFTS crashes, particularly in the context of attentional set, such that LBFTS crashes occur because motorcycles do not feature strongly in a typical driver's attentional set for driving.

APPLICATION

The findings here are important because LBFTS crashes can be reduced if we can change the expectations of road users around the presence of motorcycles on the road.