Traffic injury prevention
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Traffic injury prevention · Nov 2016
Exposure factors of Victoria's active motorcycle fleet related to serious injury crash risk.
The purpose of this study was to describe the nature and extent of current powered 2-wheeler (PTW) risk exposures in order to support future efforts to improve safety for this mode of transport. ⋯ A very low prevalence of motorcyclists combined with relatively higher rates of larger time gaps to other vehicles around motorcycles may help explain their overrepresentation in injury crashes where another vehicle fails to give way. An increased risk of injury in the event of a crash exists for a small but greater proportion of motorcyclists (compared to other vehicle types) who were exceeding the speed limit. An apparent shift toward older age of the active rider population may be reducing injury crash risk relative to exposure time. There is significant scope to improve the physical conspicuity of motorcyclists and the frequency of motorcycle specific protective clothing use. These results can be used to inform policy development and monitor progress of current and future road safety initiatives.