Motorcycles have been a feature of our roads for well over a hundred years. During that time they have served as a basic mode of transport, an economical alternative to the car, a workhorse and even a lifestyle icon. Their popularity has risen and fallen in concert with a number of diverse social and economic factors. Recent years have seen an upturn in the popularity of motorcycling, bringing the advantages and disadvantages of the mode into sharp relief, the most obvious of the latter being safety.

Although motorcycles were able to exceed their year 2000 road safety targets, progress since then has been poor. Against the Government's 2010 casualty reduction targets, motorcycle casualty numbers buck a trend of generally improving road safety although the ‘rate’ associated with motorcycle accidents has been declining over the last decade. However, it is important to remember that those services provided by the motorcycle for over a century are still valid and that being a vulnerable mode is not the same as being an undesirable one.

The IHIE Motorcycling Guidelines have been produced in support of the Government’s Motorcycling Strategy whose central point is to ‘mainstream’ motorcycles into core transport policy.

Motorcycles and policy

1.1.2 All modes of transport have strengths and weaknesses; good practice demands the framing and implementation of policies to maximise the strengths and minimise the weaknesses.

Motorcycles have long provided a cost-effective and relatively low-polluting form of transport for commuting,work or leisure purposes.

Despite riders being susceptible to serious injury even in low-speed collisions, the specific safety needs of motorcycles with their reliance on an adequate and consistent friction between their tyres and the road surface are frequently overlooked by policy makers, planners, road designers and maintenance engineers.

Go to the Policy chapter >>

Motorcycles and Travel Plans

1.1.3 A Travel Plan is an access strategy used to manage multimodal access to the workplace.Travel Plans focus on encouraging modal shift from single-occupancy private cars by improving options for travel to the workplace and encourage wider use of sustainable transport.

This is often achieved by introducing a combination of incentives and disincentives to persuade and
support people using alternative commuter modes.Motorcycles are an affordable alternative mode of transport where public transport provision is lacking or non-existent and where distance dictates that walking and cycling are unrealistic. For these reasons they will be a common feature of many Travel Plans.

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Motorcycles and traffic engineering

1.1.4 The requirements for safe use by motorcycles demand special consideration by the traffic engineer. Some features, benign to other road users, can present a hazard to motorcycles.

The issue of motorcycle access to bus lanes and advanced stop lines at traffic signals is contentious but a number of existing schemes and trials would suggest that motorcyclists can use such facilities without disadvantaging other vulnerable road users.

More trials are needed, especially in the shared use of Advanced Stop Lines.

Go to the Road Design & Traffic Engineering chapter >>

Motorcycles and parking

1.1.5 Parking provision is an important tool in local transport policies as well as traffic management and crime reduction. It is also a fundamental requirement for any motorcycle user.

Motorcycle parking can be provided on-street or off-street, in surface parking or multi-storey parking, by commercial site operators as well as local authorities, employers, retailers, and colleges.

Go to the Motorcycle Parking chapter >>

Motorcycles and maintenance

1.1.6 A good quality surface gives a safer, more pleasant experience for all road users, but it is an essential requirement for motorcyclists.

Factors affecting motorcycle stability include: skid resistance, surface contamination and debris, drainage gullies, utility covers, road markings and road studs all of which should be considered from a motorcycle-inclusive viewpoint.

Go to the Road Maintenance chapter >>

Motorcycles and road safety campaigns

1.1.7 Road safety campaigns are a vital ingredient in the mix of initiatives needed to improve the safety record of motorcyclists.

Rider attitudes play a major role in determining rider behaviour, irrespective of age or trip purpose. Any measure designed to modify behaviour must address these attitudes and take account of the individuality often expressed in choosing a motorcycle as the travel mode. Riders respond better to messages related to their own perspective and are likely to ignore “must do” or “must not do” approaches.

Go to the Road Safety Campaigns chapter >>

Motorcycles and traffic calming

1.1.8 Traffic calming measures are very effective in reducing numbers of injury accidents, especially in residential areas, and polarising public opinion about their desirability. Motorcyclists are no more exempt from the intended effects of traffic calming devices than any other road user, but they can suffer disproportionately from unintended effects, often safety-related, which then undermine the casualty-reducing purpose of installing traffic calming measures in the first place.

Go to the Motorcycle and Traffic Calming chapter >>

Motorcycles and Road Safety Audit

1.1.9 Road Safety Audit has existed in the UK since the late 1980s. Audits of trunk road and motorway schemes have been mandatory since 1991.

Many local authorities voluntarily carry out such designindependent audits using the trunk road standard as a reference.

Highway design and traffic engineering practice in England and Wales usually separates safety auditing and user auditing.

The latter focuses on encouraging better infrastructure provision for sustainable and often vulnerable modes to encourage modal shift.

However, it has always been good practice for safety auditors to take a multi-modal approach to the process, taking special care with safety implications for vulnerable road users; equestrians, cyclists and pedestrians.

While not being completely overlooked, motorcyclists have had a lower profile in this “special care” regime, perhaps because the higher speeds of motorcycles push them, almost intuitively, into the same camp as twin-track motor vehicles.

This is a serious misapprehension.

The dynamics of motorcycles and the vulnerability of their riders make motorcycling a unique mode in the traffic mix, demanding separate, informed consideration by designers and auditors alike.

Go to the Motorcycle and Road Safety Audit chapter >>