European “Motorcycle Accidents In Depth Study” (MAIDS) Report Updated

by Stacy on April 23, 2009

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Version 2.0 of the Motorcycle Accidents In Depth Study (MAIDS) is now available for download. MAIDS, “the first complete European in-depth study of motorcycle accidents,” is the result of three years of investigation and analysis of 921 accidents in 5 countries. The study was sponsored by the European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM).

Some interesting tidbits from the report:

  • “Moped: 39.2% of L1 cases, the primary contributing factor was a human error by L1 rider. 17.3% of these failures were due to a wrong perception, followed by a 13.6% of decision failures.” In other words, many moped (scooter) riders lack the SIPDE (Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute) skills that are crucial to accident avoidance.
  • “Motorcycle: 35.9% of the cases were caused by an error of L3 rider. 13.2% of these were decision failures, followed by the 8% of perception failures.” In other words, motorcycle riders often have the perception skills, but aren’t skilled in deciding the best course of avoidance action or executing those skills in an emergency situation.
  • “Human factors were coded as the primary accident contributing factor in approximately 87.9% of all cases (i.e., 37.4% + 50.5%), indicating that vehicle [car, motorcycle, etc.] operators are largely responsible for accident causation.” 50% of the time the other vehicle (usually a car) was at fault; however, 37% of the time the rider was at fault. That’s a big number. Cars can not be blamed for every accident.
  • “3.7% of cases involved a PTW tyre problem and 1.2% a brake problem.” Mechanical failures did happen, but they were fairly rare.
  • “[Other vehicle] OV operators who also held a [Powered Two Wheel] PTW licence were less likely to commit perception failures than OV operators who did not have a PTW licence (26.4% versus 50.9%).” Riders make safer drivers!

With the Hurt Report rapidly approaching its 30th anniversary, it’s absolutely ridiculous that the US does not have an updated motorcycle accidents study. There’s been plenty of talk about conducting a new study, but despite grants from the AMA, Congress, and the Motorcycle Industry Council, there apparently isn’t enough money to start one.

Photo from akeg’s photostream on flickr

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Amy April 25, 2009 at 11:41 am

Interesting tidbits! It's nice to see something that backs up the belief that riders do seem to make safer drivers. Every time that approaching car *doesn't* make that last-second left hand turn in front of me I wonder if he's a rider too and has had that heart-stopping maneuver pulled on him….

Reading this made me think back to the last NYS Defensive Driving class I took. I was dismayed to see how little coverage there was of motorcycles. What little mention there was, was only in a couple of videos basically treating them as road hazards. My husband and I (apparently the only two riders in the class of 30+ people) had to basically hijack the class for 15 minutes while we tried to disassociate the words "motorcycle" and "hazard". It was obvious that some of our classmates-especially those approaching their Golden years-were a bit uncomfortable, even annoyed at the topic. How are other drivers supposed to know how to treat a motorcycle in traffic if they don't know what it's capable of? I'm not saying every licensed driver should have to take an MSF class, but there should be some emphasis on the fact that my bike will stop waaaay before that guy's two ton SUV, for instance. That having been said, I agree 100% with you about the need for an updated Hurt-type report in the US. In the meantime, I'm going to go read more of what they've got to say on the other side of the pond. :)

2 Ruben May 11, 2009 at 10:37 am

It boils down to putting your money where your mouth is. Unfortunately there are many willing to sing praises and shout accolades to the safety community, but back it up with funding? This is where the proverbial tire meets the road, is it not?

I have had my fill of talking about it. Let's get to the bottom line, how many riders have to die to warrant spending the money?

They can make all the speeches they want but without funding, it's all hot air.

BTW, other money issues are training police to properly investigate crashes and having a standardized method of reporting. We need to do better.

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