$1.25 Million for Motorcycle Safety, Naturally.
The California Injury Attorney Blog has previously posted on the vehicle safety studies going on over at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). VTTI is about to begin a groundbreaking naturalistic motor vehicle safety study focusing on motorcycle safety. It is in the planning stages and will provide significant data to bring riders to a new level of safety. We cannot understate the significance of this study.
Who pays?
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) and the VTTI are partnering to create the largest motorcycle safety study in the world. Called the MSF Naturalistic Study of Motorcyclists, the study will span more than a year. It involves completely new techniques of data recovery. The MSF is funding the study at a cost of $1.25 million.
How it works.
Here is how the study will work. Instrumentation and small video recorders will be mounted on many bikes over a period of 6-18 months. The continuous data recovered from these instruments will record, in great detail, how riders respond to various situations.
Rider interviews will also be a part of the data-collection process. The VTTI expects this to provide a much clearer picture of how accidents and near-accidents occur and why. More importantly, the goal is to end up with greater safety for riders, passengers and others.
Just the facts.
The VTTI naturalistic method will reveal information that other safety studies have not, particularly Information that cannot be collected through the retrospective crash investigation techniques that have been used for years.
The study begins in 2011 and will quantify motorcycle rider performance and behavior in various circumstances. It will document such important concerns as the way riders respond to roadways, other vehicles, and their own reactions and behaviors. It will also document what makes some riders more safe than other riders by tracking what they do, and do not do, on the road.
A first with motorcycles.
In 2005, VTTI developed and then used these naturalistic technologies in a 100-car safety study. The study looked at over 750 near-crashes and 69 actual crashes. VTTI's Director Tom Dingus, who has been closely involved in other naturalistic research, noted that the study should provide details and findings that will be "relevant for years." He noted that the extensive bandwidth of this study "will provide guidance to help enthusiasts, industry and others move toward positive safety outcomes."
Safety matters.
San Francisco's Hersh & Hersh represents motorcycle enthusiasts throughout California. We are also committed to supporting motorcycle safety. We look forward to learning the results of this important study.
Hersh and Hersh has represented many clients dealing with injuries sustained in motorcycle accidents as well as motor vehicle accidents of all kinds. If you or a loved one have been injured in motorcycle accident, please contact us for a free consultation.
