Analysis of rear-end incidents with motorcycles using near-miss database

Abstract

The present study analyzes rear-end collisions and near misses with motorcycles using the near-miss database. Characteristics of the rear-end incidents with motorcycles are examined by comparing cases with passenger cars. A total of 101 cases are extracted for analyzed data including from the stable following situations to the rear-end incidents, with the near-miss levels of “accident,” “high,” and “medium.” For passenger cars, the same number of randomly extracted cases are compared with the data of motorcycles as the same near-miss levels. When the preceding vehicle is a motorcycle, the headway distance is shorter and the potential risk is higher than those of a passenger car. When the preceding vehicle is a passenger car, the relative velocity is higher near the near-miss timing, and there is no significant difference in the overt risk as a result. In order to prevent the rear-end collisions and near misses with motorcycles, it is important for drivers following motorcycles to avoid shortening the headway distance by predicting from the motorcycles behavior, and for motorcycle riders to avoid sudden maneuvers and to indicate their intentions earlier such as turn signals.

Keywords

• drive recorder
• indicent analysis
• near-miss database
• rear-end collision
• preceding vehicle
• motorcycle
• time headway
• time to collision
• active safety