SAFETY POTENTIAL OF FUTURE TWO-WHEEL CONCEPTS - A CHALLENGE

Many big cities in Europe and elsewhere in the world have problems managing the traffic especially during rush hours. The improvement of the parking problematic and environmental protection as well are important aspects for the future traffic design of urban reas. To improve the traffic situation the development of new traffic concepts and alternative vehicles are required. The BMW company has developed a new type of two-wheel vehicle. This two-wheeler constitutes a totally new concept. BMW implemented a lot of safety features, such as a structure made up of rollover bars and a crush element instead of a front protecting plate. Furthermore the driver can secure himself with two safety belts. The paper contains a description of the novel two-wheel vehicle concept designed so far. BMW's concept and the safety features are also explained. The Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) was given the task of assessing the concept as a whole with regard to the active and passive safety and the exemption of the obligation to wear a helmet. The expertise concluded that the BMW two-wheeler concept has a very high safety standard. Some extracts of the expertise, in particular the investigations concerning the exemption of the obligation to wear a helmet are presented. Common legal requirements for the vehicle registration of vehicle concepts similar to the BMW two-wheeler in Germany have been formulated. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD E102514.

• Record URL:
  http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/esv/16th/
• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Safety Advisory Committee

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • KALLISKE, I ALBUS
• Conference:
  • 16th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles
  • Location: Windsor Ontario, Canada
  • Date: 1998-5-31 to 1998-6-4
• Publication Date: 1998-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 2279-92
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: DOT HS 808 759

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash tests; Design; Future; Mathematical analysis; Motorcycles; Safety; Transportation modes
• ITRD Terms: 6471: Analysis (math); 9011: Design (overall design); 1152: Future transport mode; 1648: Impact test (crash); 1221: Motorcycle; 1665: Safety
• Subject Areas: Design; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00788317
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 3 2000 12:00AM