1st Edition

Increasing Motorcycle Conspicuity Design and Assessment of Interventions to Enhance Rider Safety

By Lars Rößger, Michael G. Lenné Copyright 2015
    258 Pages
    by CRC Press

    258 Pages
    by CRC Press

    It’s a widely recognised trend that powered-two-wheelers' (PTWs) use has been steadily increasing and is projected to increase further. While providing benefits to the community in the form of reduced traffic congestion and environmental benefits, the risks to PTW riders remain and visibility will always be a key issue. Increasing Motorcycle Conspicuity aims to illustrate how driving simulation, field studies and laboratory experiments can be used to improve rider safety through the design and evaluation of a range of safety measures. The book outlines the factors that contribute to PTW visibility and detection by car drivers, and presents case studies to illustrate how the various methods can be used to explore the contribution of these factors. The final chapter of the book highlights the utility of a simulation-based approach to improving PTW safety and discusses this method’s future applications. The case studies collected within the volume cover phases of the design of conspicuity treatments and provide a broad spectrum of empirical strategies for assessing the interventions. The book is most directly relevant to researchers and applied scientists from the fields of traffic/transportation psychology and human factors, as well as to practitioners from the traffic safety sector.

    Part I Setting the Stage: Motorcycle Safety and Conspicuity. PTW Crashes and the Role of Perception. Psychological Factors in Seeing Motorcycles. Mechanisms Underpinning Conspicuity. Part II Case Studies Focusing on Visual Saliency and Conspicuity Treatments. How Conspicuity Influences Drivers: Attention and Manoeuvring Decisions. ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ Examining the Effect of Various Conspicuity Treatments on Drivers’ Turning Performance. Design Studies on Improved Frontal Light Configurations for Powered Two-Wheelers and Testing in Laboratory Experiments. Visual Factors Affecting Motorcycle Conspicuity: Effects of Car Daytime-running Lights and Motorcycle Headlight Design.

    Biography

    Lars Rößger is Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Unit of Traffic and Transportation Psychology at the Faculty of Traffic Sciences, University of Technology Dresden. Over the past 10 years he has been engaged in several national and international funded research projects dealing with various issues of applied psychology in the traffic and transportation sector. His main research interest include drivers’ attitudes and behavioural changes, human decision-making in the context of traffic related decisions and drivers’ visual attention and its means of measuring. Results of his research work are published in peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters both on national and international level. His current research focuses on time perception and route related decisions in simulation scenarios. Mike Lenné is an Adjunct Professor (Research) at the Monash Injury Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. He was awarded a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Monash University in 1998, and in 2014 was made a Professor at the Monash University Accident Research Centre where he had led the Human Factors research team for nearly eight years. His research over the past 15 years has centred on the measurement of human performance using human-in-the-loop simulation across road, rail, and military settings. While widely published, his research has had significant impacts on road safety policy and practice. His current research examines the impact of intersection and rail level crossing design on road user performance, and the role of distraction and drowsiness in crashes and development of associated countermeasures. Professor Geoff Underwood is Director of the Accident Research Unit at the University of Nottingham, and has served as the Head of the School of Psychology at Nottingham. His degrees are from the University of London (BSc, DSc) and the University of Sheffield (PhD). He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (FBPsS) and a Fellow of the R