Motorcycle Safety Investigation at Exit Ramp Section from Crash Data and Rider’s Perception

Exit ramps require extra attention and skills for motorcycle riders to make safe turns. They have been known as high risk areas for motorcycles with the facts of relative high crash counts and injury severity levels. This study evaluated the safety performance of four exit ramp types and the contributing factors on motorcycle crashes and injury severity of motorcycle riders with six-year crash data (2005 to 2010) and a web-based survey (234 samples). A total of 573 crashes were found at 419 exits, including 178 diamond exits, 71 directional exits, 85 loop exits, and 85 outer connection exits, in Florida. Overall, both the survey and crash data showed that a diamond exit is safer and more preferable by motorcycle riders. A loop exit is the most dangerous exit due to the sharp curve and a certain length of curve with limited visibility. For a directional exit, longer ramp length and the reverse curvature are the major factors causing motorcycle crashes. For the outer connection exit, the riders rated it as safe; however, the data showed a high average crash frequency and rate. The possible reason could be the unexpected curvature in the middle of the ramp, which could be dangerous if the rider is not familiar with the exit ramp location. The negative binomial was developed and the model indicated that if all remains the same, a directional exit, loop exit, or outer connection exit will have 16%, 27%, and 42% more crashes than a diamond exit respectively. The findings from this study can help policy-makers and engineers develop and apply effective countermeasures to reduce motorcycle crashes and injury severity levels for different exit ramp types.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF30 Motorcycles and Mopeds.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Chen, Hongyun
  • Lee, Chanyoung
  • Lin, Pei-Sung
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash data; Highway safety; Injury severity; Motorcyclists; Off ramps; Perception
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01475847
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-1101
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 15 2013 9:48AM