The specific needs of powered two-wheelers are highlighted in new guidelines on road infrastructure.
The guidance would make a ‘truly valuable contribution towards road safety’, according to Anthony Pearce, director general of the Internationale Road Federation, after its launch at the Intertraffic conference in Amsterdam. It was drawn up because motorcycling groups say that ‘a significant number of accidents result from infrastructure shortcomings’.
Produced by the Association des Constructeurs Europeens de Motocycles (ACEM), it aims to ensure that motorcyclists are catered for in traffic management, highway maintenance, and parking schemes.
It contains detailed advice on how motorcyclists perceive bends, and advises on the design of safer curves in new schemes with a wide, constant radius. Obstacles such as sign posts, lighting columns and guard rails should be avoided on the outer curves where possible or, if unavoidable, positioned as far away from the road’s edge as possible. Entry angles at roundabouts, ‘inappropriate’ use of road markings, the design of safe parking facilities, and the impact of road works on PTWs are also all discussed.
Craig Carey-Clinch, the Motorcycle Industry Association’s director of public affairs, said he hoped the project would ‘reduce the number of motorcycle casualties across the UK and Europe’. A seminar in Amsterdam to promote the guidance was well-attended and the document had been downloaded more than 7,000 times by the end of the conference. ACEM will continue to promote the guidance with politicians and transport professionals, in order to implement its recommendations.
Guidelines for powered two-wheelers – safer road design in Europe www.acembike.org
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