Final 2016-2018

This report defines the motorcycle crash problem based on national crash statistics using the Fatality Analysis ReportingSystem (FARS) and General Estimates System (GES) crash databases. Motorcycles include two- and three-wheeledmotorcycles, mopeds, off-road motorcycles, mini-bikes, motor scooters, and pocket motorcycles. Crashes included inthis study (from the FARS and GES databases) were those having at least one motorcycle involved in the critical eventof the crash. This report identifies and prioritizes pre-crash scenarios based on annual harm measures. In addition, thisreport characterizes the priority pre-crash scenarios by vehicle role and statistical descriptions, and depicts thesescenarios in terms of general kinematic equations. Pre-crash scenarios are defined and grouped based on similarmotorcycle-vehicle dynamics for all crashes, and are prioritized based on fatal crash frequency, police-reported crashfrequency, and comprehensive costs. Priority pre-crash scenarios include control loss, road departure, left turn acrosspath, lane change, opposite direction, rear-end, and crossing paths crashes. The priority pre-crash scenarios are alsocharacterized in terms of environmental conditions, vehicle role, road geometry, and other contributing factors; and aredepicted in terms of the time-to-collision kinematic equations that describe the aspects of each priority pre-crashscenario. These depictions help to provide a basis to identify the information needs required for motorcycle crashavoidance applications.

NHTSA - Vehicle Safety Research
Volpe