A Crash Testing Evaluation of Motorcyclist Protection Systems for Use on Steel W-Beam Safety Barriers

Abstract

Safety barriers are a popular and proven countermeasure used to protect vehicle occupants from roadside hazards. However, international and Australian research demonstrates that safety barriers can pose significant safety risks to motorcyclists in the event of a crash. The Centre for Road Safety (CRS) undertook a series of crash tests of three currently available Motorcyclist Protection Systems (MPS) to investigate whether the addition of MPS to a standard W-Beam reduces the injury risk for an impacting motorcyclist, without compromising the safety of other road users. Two of the MPS tested demonstrated an acceptable level of injury risk to a sliding motorcyclist impacting at 60 km/h, and a greatly reduced injury risk, compared with the W-beam alone, where impact was likely to be fatal. None of the MPS demonstrated any adverse impact on the injury risk to vehicle occupants, or the vehicle’s trajectory.