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Conspicuity
A study by motorcyclist author Peter Brooks who presented a paper in which he enquired about the motorcycle accident experience of drivers.
It is a wonderful 64 page study on the driver behaviour of 900 car drivers.
It confirms what Trevor Baird and Elaine Hardy have been trying to highlight - that conspicuity research (and that includes MAIDS) is a quick fix for manufacturers and does not address the problem. An abstract is reproduced below.
The whole document can be viewed Here pdf 2.2mb
Brooks P 1991 'Preventing driver error and motorcycle accident causation: An empirical investigation'.
Abstract
Driver error rather than rider error has been highlighted as a major factor in powered-two wheeler (PTW) accidents. However, little work on understanding and preventing these driver errors has taken place.
Previous research which has addressed the issue of driver involvement has focused upon increasing the conspicuity of the PTW or rider and has tended to ignore issues associated with car driver behaviour.
A framework is presented which facilitates an understanding of driver error in interactions with PTWs.
The concepts of Technical Awareness and Social Awareness are used to describe conditions which may predispose drivers to errors when interacting with PTWs.
An empirical examination of the framework is presented, examining the relationship between lack of Technical andor Social Awareness and accident involvement.
Relevant information was obtained from over 700 drivers involved in accidents with PTWs within 9 police divisions in England.
This information was compared with responses to a random survey of over 1500 drivers sampled from the same area.
The results indicate that some of the most important factors in PTW accidents may be accounted for by lack of driver Technical and Social Awareness.
These findings have specific implications for the direction of future research and countermeasure development and indicate where previous accident reduction efforts have been lacking.
In particular, current emphasis on rider performance and rider conspicuity should be supplemented with direct consideration of drivers.
It is concluded that using training and education to increase the Technical and Social
Awareness of drivers would be an area of high potential effectiveness.
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