Motorbike safety can be measured objectively, says AIT

The Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) has developed a motorcycle probe vehicle to better understand the causes of motorbike accidents. The vehicle was deployed as a measurement method to evaluate popular motorcycle routes in Austria’s capital. Peter Saleh, road safety expert at the AIT Center for Mobility Systems, says: “Our aim is to give those who operate roads the precise information they need in order to reduce the danger in these areas efficiently,
August 30, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
The 6625 Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology) has developed a motorcycle probe vehicle to better understand the causes of motorbike accidents. The vehicle was deployed as a measurement method to evaluate popular motorcycle routes in Austria’s capital.


Peter Saleh, road safety expert at the AIT Center for Mobility Systems, says: “Our aim is to give those who operate roads the precise information they need in order to reduce the danger in these areas efficiently, sustainably and cost-effectively.”

The motorbike, a KTM 1290 Super Adventure, was equipped with high precision sensors and video systems. The side cases were packed with recording technology which documented the condition of the bike.

Test drives gathered data on vehicle dynamics, trajectory and routing. This was augmented with weather, traffic volume and route environment and then analysed through machine learning to reveal road sections which pose a risk for motorcyclists.

According to Saleh, every road section which was classed as dangerous - after being driven along and analysed - had been the site of serious accidents in the past.

“The AIT/TU Wien research team is therefore in a position to anticipate future accident trends and can assess motorcycle safety on a scientific basis, even before anything has happened,” Saleh adds.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Deriving data to tackle tribal road crashes
    June 14, 2017
    David Crawford looks at a new initiative to deal with high crash and fatality rates on America’s tribal roads. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, on average two members of the country’s indigenous communities - American Indians or Alaskan Natives (AI/AN) - die every day in motor vehicle crashes. This represents a far higher percentage than that of the country’s general population. Historically, the US states with the worst records are Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakot
    Read More
  • Panasonic gets connected on The Ray
    June 5, 2020
    A stretch of rural Georgia highway called The Ray is a particularly useful testbed for V2X technology. Panasonic’s Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill what’s so special about it
    Read More
  • Norwegian study indicates benefits of average speed enforcement
    November 4, 2014
    Evaluation of the crash effects of section control, or average speed enforcement, carried out at 14 sites in Norway has found a reduction of the number of injury crashes by between 12 and 22 per cent and a statistically significant reduction of the number of killed or severely injured road users (KSI) by between 49 and 54 per cent. Each section control site consists of a stretch or road between two speed cameras (four speed cameras at sites with bidirectional section control), both of which take pictures
    Read More
  • Vision technology lifts blinkers from tunnel vision
    December 6, 2017
    Sony’s Jerome Avenel looks at how advances in imaging technology are helping improve safety. On the 24th March 1999, a Belgian truck transporting flour and margarine through the 11.6km Mont Blanc tunnel caught alight when a cigarette stub entered the engine induction snorkel, lighting the paper air filter. The fire left over 30 dead and many more injured. At the time, the Mont Blanc tunnel disaster was the world’s worst tunnel fire.
    Read More

Highlighted Content