Bid to put brake on deaths

Motorcyclists lose out in safety studies

FATALITIES and crashes involving motorcyclists are occurring more than ever, but not enough is being invested in improving their safety, a Deakin expert claims.

Deakin University senior research fellow in motorcycle safety Liz de Rome said motorcycle safety was underfunded and under-researched.

“Australia is leading the world in many ways when it comes to motorcycle safety, but we still have major road infrastructure problems that need to be addressed,” she said.

“We don’t build roads that are friendly to motorcyclists.

“Riders are like the canaries in the coal mine. If something is negatively impacting them it’s going to be adversely affecting other road users as well.”

Dr de Rome said motorcycle safety research had fallen behind car safety research.

“Australia is well ahead with having made so many advancements to the safety of car occupants. Now we need to apply that to motorcyclists,” she said.

“Motorcycle use is becoming increasing popular as our roads get more and more con- gested — motorcycle owners make up 4 per cent of Australians, but the fleet is increasing by almost 10 per cent each year, and motorcycles are now our most rapidly increasing type of motor vehicle.”

Dr de Rome said more support and funding was needed for motorcycle research and safety programs, with motorcyclists representing an in- creasing proportion of road users killed (17 per cent) and seriously injured (23 per cent) in Australian road crashes.

Dr de Rome will chair a Deakin motorcycle safety seminar today, from 9am-12.30pm, at the Deakin University Waurn Ponds campus.

The symposium will explore motorcycle crash investigation and injury mechanics, rider education, computer simulations and infrastructure improvements.

“The workshop is a chance to bring in researchers from Deakin who may not have worked in the motorcycle safety space before — who may not have even ridden a bike before — but who have skills that we could to apply to developing new safety approaches,” Dr de Rome said.

“New technologies may be a key to training riders and helping them to develop good habits, which in real-world riding can be a real challenge.”