How to improve road infrastructure through user-driven policies: the case of motorcyclist-friendly road restraint systems

How to improve road infrastructure through user-driven policies: the case of motorcyclist-friendly road restraint systems The presentation looks at how users can take action to improve infrastructure for better safety, through awareness campaigns, product development, standardization and identification of black spots. Road restraint systems, including guardrails, represent a source of injury for motorcyclists falling off a bike and hitting elements such as support posts, which present a narrow profile and no energy absorption properties. Current guardrail standards in Europe and North America do not mandate protection for motorcyclists. The presentation features an overview of the European motorcyclists’ campaign leading to the approval of provisional standard prEN1317-8 by CEN Technical Committee 226, Working Group 1 in 2010, achieved through FEMA’s liaison status at CEN since 2007. The campaign includes awareness projects with national authorities, the research community, the industry and the general public, as well as grassroot campaigns and multilingual user surveys aimed at gathering missing data on guardrail-related accidents. Supporting publications include the final report of the “Motorcyclists and Crash Barriers” project (2000), featuring recommendations to authorities on guardrail installation, and “The Road to Success” (2005) on guardrail policies. Related work undertaken in research projects will also be featured: the Advanced Protection Systems project (APROSYS), designing protective equipment for motorcyclists, and the Smart Road Restraint Systems project (SMARTRRS), improving primary, secondary and tertiary safety with an integrated system: a new guardrail profile offering increased protection to motorcyclists, hazard-detecting sensors and accident localisation capabilities.