Soon your motorcycle and helmet could warn you if you have chosen the right apex and speed for a corner, regardless of the posted advisory speed.

European researchers Alex Liniger and Simon Hecker have developed a prototype system based on their ARAS paper and have founded a company, Aegis Rider AG, to bring the technology to market. 

“We are currently in the late prototyping stage and have a working system deployed on our test motorcycle,” says Simon. 

“We decided to combine the ARAS technology presented in the paper with augmented reality (AR) and built an AR helmet, in order to facilitate better communication with the rider.”

He says roadside signs with arrows and advisory speeds are not good enough considering that nearly a fifth of all motorcycle accidents and 15% of fatalities are caused by riders taking corners too quickly or sharply.

Instead of road signs, their system uses the geometry off the road ahead.

“What we designed is a curve warning system for motorbikes which can alert the rider when they are approaching a curve too fast,” Simon says. 

“The system performs this task by first calculating the roll angle and the position within the lane of the motorcycle, based on a camera mounted on the front of the motorbike. 

“Second, the system queries information about the road ahead from so-called HD maps, which are precise maps for navigation with additional information, such as the road geometry (curvature, inclination …) and road attribute information (speed limits …). 

“With this information, we use a motion-planning algorithm to plan the optimal path and consequent manoeuvre of the motorcycle for the next 200m ahead. This path can be seen as the ideal manoeuvre to ride the curve and includes safety margins.”

Their system can detect if the rider is taking the wrong line and is going too fast for the corner which is especially important on blind corners.

It alerts the rider to apply the brakes even if the road side speed limit has not changed.

“The main advantage of the proposed system is that by using an ideal robotic rider which can plan into the future, we can warn the rider to slow down before something happens,”Simon says. 

“This stands in contrast to the current safety system such as ABS and EBS, which only take action when the rider has already crossed the limit of handling.”

Their system is designed to only warn the rider and not intervene.

“It is actually less invasive than current safety systems and helps to keep the riding experience pure,” Simon says.

Their research paper only shows preliminary results and further work is necessary to allow this system to run real-time on a motorcycle.

So they have developed a prototype to tests their theories.

The warning could be conveyed to the rider either visually on the bike’s instruments, through haptic pads (vibrations in the bars or seat) or through a head-up display in the rider’s helmet. The prototype uses the latter.

The researchers come from ETH Zurich and KU Leuven, the latter being the Belgian consultancy to issue the Transport & Mobility study that found if 10% of all private cars were replaced by motorcycles, it would reduce traffic congestion by 40%.)

Their research paper so far only shows preliminary results and they say further work is necessary to allow this system to run real-time on a motorcycle.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Half of  NSW motorcyclists have experienced a near-miss in the past three months, according to a survey conducted as part of October’s annual Motorcycle Awareness Month 2021.

The Motorcycle Council of NSW (MCC of NSW) surveyed more than 500 motorcyclists to find out what it is like to ride on the roads in NSW.

More than a third (35%) said they had a near miss every five rides and 23% said it was one in 10 rides. 

37% of motorcyclists had to correct their riding to avoid an accident, the survey found. 

Most of these riders had the near miss on metro roads during the weekday, between the hours of 10am to 3pm.

MCCNSW chair Kevin ‘Trip’ Henry says it is interesting to note that “experience in motorcycle riding did not affect their occurrence of near misses”. 

“Most of the riders surveyed (79%) had over 10 years riding,” he says.

The survey uncovered that in 43.9% of near misses, the driver was driving under 50km along a suburban road. These near misses and crashes could have been avoided had the driver followed the road rules and spent more time looking.

“Near misses occur 13 times more often than crashes.  We know near misses can easily turn into a crash.  Every driver we get the message to look out for motorcyclists will help save lives.” said Mr. Henry.

What’s it like to ride a motorcycle in Sydney?

MCCNSW is also conducting its annual Joe Rider awareness campaign aimed at educating drivers to watch out for motorcycles.

This year they have a virtual ride on Facebook that gives drivers an experience of riding a motorcycle on busy Sydney roads. Joe Rider will narrate during his rides, sharing the typical mindset of riders negotiating urban roads.

This ‘on bike’ livestream will take place twice a week during October’s MAM on the MCC of NSW Facebook page. It will also be saved for non-live viewing.

Ask a motorcyclist

MCCNSW will also conduct twice-a-week Zoom events in October to discuss common driver complaints and misunderstandings of motorcycling. 

These informative events will be conducted by a driving and a motorcycle representative.

All drivers are welcome to join the Q&A session with a motorcyclist.  This is an open discussion to enhance the message to look out for motorcyclists.

‘Ask a motorcyclist’ Zoom event links will be advertised on their Facebook page.

Radio ads

MCC of NSW will run radio ads in Sydney and regional throughout the month of October.

“To get our message across to younger drivers across NSW, we will also be running our Spotify advertising campaign through their music and podcasts,” Trip says. 

“It continues the theme to look out for motorcyclists and gives great tips to help drivers be more aware and look twice for motorcycles throughout October.”

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Crashes involving motorcycles and cars are often referred to as SMIDSY incidents or “Sorry mate, I didn’t see you.”

Many riders complain that drivers not only don’t see them, but don’t even bother to look.

For years, motorcycle safety advocates have been asking authorities to better educate drivers to look out for riders.

However, it’s like banging your head against a brick wall. Drivers just don’t care. They don’t see motorcyclists as a threat.

Recently, technology seems to be compensating for poor driver behaviour and lack of attention to other road users.

We have seen such technologies as blind spot alerts that specifically monitor for small vehicles such as motorcycles.

And recently a nine-month pilot study was held in Ipswich, Queensland, where vehicles were fitted wth technologies that could identify vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycle riders.

The Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot (ICVP) involved 350 cars being fitted with cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) technology.

This included a roof-mounted antenna, a communications box under the driver’s seat and a warning display on the dashboard.

It monitored vehicle position, speed and data such as traffic lights, speed limits, road works, and other road hazards.

The pilot was a joint operation involving the Department of Transport and Main Roads, the Motor Accident Insurance Commission of Queensland, Telstra, Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland, iMOVE Australia, Ipswich City Council, and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development.

The QUT will release its final pilot safety evaluation report on the trial in early 2022.

Could this be the beginning of the end of SMIDSY crashes for riders? Or will such technology just be another excuse for drivers not to bother looking for riders?

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

The shape of your motorcycle could have a big impact on rider injury in a crash, a landmark Australian study with simulated lab crash test equipment has found.

Tanks with a sharp rise from the seat can increase the risk of pelvic injury, according to the study by Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), an independent, not-for-profit research institute based in Sydney, previously known as the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute.

The brain and nervous system research centre conducted a three-year in-depth investigation of motorcycle crashes which has led to several other research projects, including the tank study which included simulated lab crash tests with various tank shapes.

This is the first time the interaction between the pelvis and the design of fuel tanks has been studied in this way due to a newly developed test method for physically recreating rider pelvis impacts in simulated crash tests.

“Our crash studies have confirmed previous findings related to the frequency with which the motorcycle fuel tank is a source of groin and pelvic injury demonstrating that there has been little improvement in the crashworthiness over the last few decades,” the study found.

Researchers found that fuel tanks with a lower angle or more gradual rise from the front of the seat to the handlebars were safer and less likely to cause a pelvic injury to the rider during an accident.

They identified that motorcyclists with a more upright posture, such as those riding cruiser bikes, had an increased likelihood of hitting the fuel tank with greater force than those riding bikes where they have a forward-leaning position in the seat such as sports bikes.

About 15% of injuries involving motorcyclists are pelvic injuries, says Dr Tom Whyte, an injury biomechanics engineer and researcher at NeuRA. 

Pelvic injuries from motorcycle crashes can be permanent and result in difficulties with basic activities such as walking, sexual function, or urinating.

They typically occur when the motorbike makes a front-on impact with another vehicle or object and the rider hurtles over the tank and bars.

“In the simulated crash tests, we found differences in fuel tank shape influence the severity of the impact to the pelvis, with fuel tanks rising steeply and abruptly from the bike seat increasing the possibility of injury,” Dr Whyte says.

“There’s likely to be greater protection for a motorcyclist’s pelvis when they are leaning forward. This is because our tests found that there are smaller impact forces between the pelvis and the fuel tank when riders are in this position,” Dr Whyte says.

“The findings show that greater attention to the design of fuel tanks could improve the safety of motorcyclists particularly on motorcycles where riders are more likely to take an upright position while riding,” he said.

The findings are being presented to manufacturers in the hope they will consider them in their bike designs.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com