In Depth Study of Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycle accidents have somewhat different characteristics to accidents involving other classes of road user.

In particular, they include ‘right of way’ accidents, accidents involving loss of control on bends, and accidents caused by motorcyclists using the more frequent overtaking and passing opportunities that this choice of transport affords them.

Increases in scooter and motorcycle sales in recent years have caused a corresponding increase in deaths and serious injuries caused to their riders, following a period of relative decline. Scooters have seen a 16% rise in sales between 2002–2003; and recent licensing data for larger motorcycles (above 500cc engine capacity) shows that they now account for around half of all registered motorcycles, so this pattern seems set to continue.

A sample of 1,790 accident cases was considered, including 1,003 in detail, from Midland police forces, involving motorcyclists of all ages and covering the years 1997–2002 inclusive.

Each case was summarised on a database including the main objective features (such as time and place) and a summary narrative, a sketch plan and a list of explanatory factors. The summary narrative, in particular, included judgements by the researchers that emphasised the sequence of events leading up to the accident.

In addition, a 25 item questionnaire was completed by a sample of relatively experienced motorcyclists recruited through the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG).

Significant differences were discovered in the sample with respect to the types of accidents involving motorcyclists (and their blameworthiness). The main findings were:

• There seems to be a particular problem surrounding other road users’ perception of motorcycles, particularly at junctions. Such accidents often seem to involve older drivers with relatively high levels of driving experience who nonetheless seem to have problems detecting approaching motorcycles.

• Motorcyclists themselves seem to have far more problems with other types of accident, such as those on bends, and overtaking or ‘filtering’ accidents.

• There are two main groups of riders that interventions should be focussed on. The first is young and inexperienced riders of smaller capacity machines such as scooters, and the second is older, more experienced riders of higher capacity machines. Both the skills and attitudes of these riders need to be addressed.