New Motorcycle Technology Can Prevent Accidents

Motorcycle Accidents can be Stopped With New Technology

The primary concern of most forms of transportation innovations, is increasing the safety offered to passengers by whatever medium of transport. Whether it is the invention of the flight recorder to determine aircraft issues that lead to crashes or the invention of the airbag for the automobile, safety features are a driving force of transportation progress in our civilization.

With motorcycles, the development of safety features has proven to be difficult given the nature of the vehicle. The idea of a two wheeled vehicle requiring an exposed driver to constantly maintain stability while traveling at high speed is not exactly an exemplar of safe travel. Nonetheless, motorcycles are an enduringly popular mode of transport with the young and old for this element of danger.

Today, there have been a number of innovations in motorcycle technology that have found ways to make certain aspects of riding a bit safer. When motorcyclists are about 30 times more likely to be killed in an accident, every little bit helps. Things like new helmet technology, adaptive lights, and stability control.

Vehicle to Vehicle Technology Increases Motorcycle Visibility

One of the biggest reasons cars get in accidents with motorcycles is lack of motorcycle visibility. Motorcycles have a way of slipping into blind spots and sneaking up on unsuspecting drivers that can collide with them in a number of ways.

To combat this, companies like Autotalks have joined industry supplier Bosch to develop a communication system that allows motorcycles to be alerted to other vehicles on the road in order to prevent collision.

The system would utilize wi-fi in order to exchange driving information between vehicles such as speed, position, and brake activation that a computer would use to calculate possible collision and alert a driver to take evasive action. Unfortunately, this system is not yet available and is only in development yet as a concept it shows great promise thanks to its relative low cost and power demands.

The only downside to such a technology would be the requirement of everyone utilizing it in order for it to be effective. However, if it turns out to be as low cost and simple as developers have claimed, then the widespread adoption of such a technology to help save lives on the road and minimize accidents would be a pretty easy sell as long as the devices can not be used to track individual cars.

New Light Technology Can Reduce Motorcycle Accidents at Night

A staggering amount of motorcycle accidents occur at night. In fact, 60 percent of motorcycle fatalities occur in the evening when lights are needed. Unlike cars, motorcycles usually do not have the same extent of lighting. That means motorcyclists see less than cars and get seen less than cars as well.

LED Lights Improve Motorcycle Visibility

Thanks to advances in LED lighting, motorcyclists now have much more sleek and efficient lighting for nighttime riding and the incorporation of LED lights into the chassis of motorcycles also increase the visibility of the rider.

Adaptive Lighting and Prevents Motorcycle Accidents around Turns

When motorcyclists drive around a corner or curve their lights are usually restricted from illuminating the entirety of the curve which increases the risk of an accident. The failure to illuminate an animal, pothole, or even a pulled over motorist can lead to a motorcycle accident.

Luckily, the development of adaptive lighting in motorcycles can help to end this. Adaptive lighting utilizes sensors that detect the curvature and lean of a motorcycle when it turns so that the lighting array can compensate and aim the lights to best illuminate around the turn or curve.

According to the American Automobile Association, adaptive headlights have the potential to provide up to a 90 percent safety benefit to 90 percent of crashes that occur on curves at night. Considering how sharp turns and curves are among the top areas where motorcycle accidents occur, that is a very welcome figure to project.

Better Helmet Technology Means Reduced Accident Risk

The most integral piece of safety gear for a motorcyclist is a helmet. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, helmets are about 37 percent effective in preventing motorcycle deaths and about 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries.

Those are great statistics in favor of helmets but they only take a singular function into account which is preventing your skull from being seriously injured. Thanks to advances in augmented reality and camera systems, motorcycle helmets can now serve multiple functions that can increase a motorcyclist's safety.

Augmented Reality Aids Motorcyclists

Augmented reality has offered the unique ability to create useful displays appear in a helmets visor that can relay all kinds of useful information to the rider. A rider could get basic info like speed, fuel level, and time right without having to take their eyes off the road. More advanced models could possibly go even further and display even more complex information like gps location and navigation, hands free through the use of voice commands.

Blind Spot Accidents Stopped by Camera Technology

One of the most exciting innovations is camera technology implemented in new helmets. Some helmets on the market now have cameras placed at the rear of the helmet to provide a view of blind spots via a display in the helmet's visor. Essentially, there are helmets that give you an eye in the back of your head to see if you are going to get rear ended by a truck or car.

While this technology is expensive now, it will only get cheaper as time goes on. Eventually all motorcyclists will reap the benefits of new safety technologies that have the potential to save countless lives.

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