Motorcycling and the safe system – an international perspective.

Motorcycling represents a significant and growing proportion of road trauma across the world. While Safe System approaches have the potential to produce significant reductions in trauma across the road system, the challenges of applying these to motorcycling are likely to be greater. If these challenges are not met, motorcycling will become an increasing obstacle to the achievement of a safe system for all road users and widespread reduction in road trauma. While some of these challenges are technical and the result of the physical limitations of the mode, the community’s acceptance of risk is also fundamental to the progress that can be made.
This paper examines how different jurisdictions set strategic direction for motorcycles within their road safety strategies or, conversely, address safety within their broader motorcycle plans. The paper also discusses whether the relative contributions of individual safe system components may need to be altered for different road user types, such as motorcyclists.
Examination of the application of the Safe System to motorcycling can provide guidance in the broader issue of the role of community acceptance of risk and its impact on how quickly transition to the Safe System can be achieved.