A New Instrumented Tool for Motorcyclist Behaviour Understanding: Application to Roundabouts

Abstract

Today, there are increasingly more motorcycles on the roads and the number of motorcyclists killed is greater than the number of motorists killed. The safety of powered two wheelers (PTWs) is an important issue for public authorities and road administrators. In 2014, in France, PTWs represented only 2% of traffic, but 24% of accidents and 18% of facilities. European governments have made this particular point a priority for road safety for the next decade. Yet, they are vulnerable road users for which few studies have been conducted on their behaviour and interaction with road infrastructure. Observation of their behaviour and interaction enables public authorities to understand causes in order to propose actions to improve safety for this category of road user. In this context, we developed a new tool to analyse motorcyclist behaviour in relation to road infrastructure. This tool is a motorcycle with average engine capacity. It is fitted out non-intrusive sensors so that motorcyclists can ride in real conditions. The motorcycle is equipped with multi-sensor and multi-video architectures. Both architectures are synchronised, enabling qualitative data to be paired with objectives data. Data collected includes GPS position, three axial accelerations and rotations and motorcyclist actions on the motorcycle (for example, braking, flashing, etc.). The video architecture consists of three cameras. The first observes the motorcyclist's environment. The second is positioned on the motorcyclist's helmet to observe head movements and the third films the road surface to detect lateral position and give an idea of road conditions. The objective is to obtain quantitative data to analyse motorcyclists’ dynamics in relation to road infrastructure. The tool will also help to understand interaction between different road user groups, particularly interaction between motorists and motorcyclists. Results will enable road managers to take into account the coexistent status of motorcyclists and motorists. In this study, we focus on motorcycle behaviour on urban roundabouts. Experimentation with a panel of motorcyclists was conducted. The influence zone was determined using driving parameters.