Improving Motorcycle Safety

[starkep]

Hey everyone, I am a student at the University of Colorado Denver and for my 2015 thesis, I am looking at how design can improve safety for motorcyclists. I would like to get feedback from as many motorcyclists as I can. If you do not mind helping out that would be greatly appreciated.


Here is the link to the survey.
https://alexjohnson2.typeform.com/to/nlV6B2


Thanks again to everyone who helps out.

 

[Hellgate]

I suppose as a Ram alumni I can help you.

 

[Motogiro]

I suppose as a Ram alumni I can help you.

Just be careful what scripts get run..... Spock can't help us now.... Improving Motorcycle Safe : Yamaha R6 : R6 Forum

 

[starkep]

Thanks a bunch Hellgate :rockon:

 

[Hellgate]

Good luck with your thesis!

For what it's worth, my time in grad school was the funnest time in my life.

 

[iviyth0s]

Done, good luck!!

 

[nitroheadz28]

Done :thumbup:

 

[ChanceCoats123]

From a student to a student, I filled it in! [emoji106]

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Done.

You sure focused on gadgets which really has little to do about safety. It's all in the riders mind on the decisions they make while riding. But I do have the ability to navigate, send and receive calls, record and listen to music and even see when I have an incoming text while I ride.

 

[millsd44]

All done pal!

 

[afx600]

Filled out the survey would be great to have some features such as navigation in a HUD for a helmet, but having this at an affordable cost would be the best. Only option as far as I know is the Skully AR-1, but at $1500 not very affordable for most of us since we spend a lot on our bikes, maintenance, and other gear alone. Good luck on your thesis!

 

[motojoe122]

DONE :rockon:

 

[MitsuFootDr]

Filled it out. I'm a firm believer that phone calls and texts are not appropriate while operating a motorcycle. I've never ever ever had a phone call or text that couldn't wait until I was off the bike and stopped. Distractions kill motorcyclists - and that's exactly what these are.

 

[aclayonb]

Complete. Adding a feature that blocks calls/texts on your phone when within 1m of the running bike would be the best safety feature ever.

 

[dbldutch02]

I couldn't agree more with the above. I have a bt headset - texts are just about liveable with, though by their nature not urgent enough to warrant the distraction, calls are lethal. If they are important enough to answer they are too distracting.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I rarely will answer my calls, although all I have to say is hello or pick up, I hear it ring in my helmet and see the caller ID come up on my smartphone that's mounted on a RAM mount, same for the text, I hear it come in and pop up but I won't open it up, even when I'm at a light. I just like to listen to my music.

In the event I do pick up my call, I will pull over and stop.

 

[Motogiro]

I believe communication is important. How we communicate and the reasoning behind it should be tempered with discretion.

I also believe that it is a difficult task to survey motorcycle riders and develop an accurate safety demographic in relationship to technology and rider safety.

When I'm driving in the car and I get a call I have a hands free set up. If I'm in a situation where my full attention is required while driving or riding, I ignore calls. I have a Bluetooth set up for my helmet and have the same habit. If I'm not carving canyon roads I can one button to voice command and make a call. The same when riding with a group. Many people are now set up with Bluetooth comm. devices. If we get separated or are out of range I can voice command a call to one of them. The comm systems have proven very valuable to me a few times. Last year a group (about 7-8 riders) were headed into a bad lightning storm. I decided we should turn it around and was able to talk to the lead bike in the group(a few in the group were paired) through the comm system. We turned around and when we got near a freeway, one of the riders, a flight engineer (Marines) and member here(eng), had a cool doppler app on his phone that gave us the best heading to get out of the heavy rain/lightning storm. As we traveled west on the freeway I saw far reaching lighting strikes that began behind us and were striking ahead of us as we left the storm behind. I don't think anyone on that ride had a problem with the math for a speeding ticket or a lightning strike. I got that doppler app as soon as I got home!


I don't use my unit for music. Not because I feel it distracts me but because I wear ear plugs for wind noise. That means the music quality is not for me and it uses battery resources from my phone and comm unit.

I tend to agree with VEGASRIDER with regard to safety. Your safety is dependent on your mind and all of the technology we have today has a minimal effect on increasing safety and in fact provides more of a distraction in every sense including the traffic we ride in with drivers texting and playing with technology in cars.

Bottom line I wanted to remain open minded and went to do the survey. I went through the survey but could not submit it because it really didn't seem like it was a survey for motorcycle safety but more a survey for marketing research.

 

[ShoopCE]

Done!

Please invent something that would make us more visible to car & truck drivers. Perhaps something like a bright strobe on the bike headlight or helmet that we could flash as we approach an intersection or a spot where cars are trying to make a left hand turn. This could be thumb actuated next to or part of the high/low beam switch.

Chris

 

[Dry Martini]

Survey completed.


As for talking while riding, a few in the sport touring community have been doing this for years, without incident.

Sometimes when a person calls, all of they need are a few yes/no answers.


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[The_Paragon]

Survey Complete! Good luck with Grad School man!!

Just to add a little something to the Convo...
My fiancee and I just picked up a set of Sena Comms. (Ive been riding about 4 years now and put about 12k miles/year. My fiancee has been piloting her own bike for 1 summer now)
I certainly feel like theres been a bit of a safety upgrade with the comms between us. I can give her warnings of upcoming road hazzards. I can even give her tips while riding. Its also super easy to discuss plans, where we're going and whats coming up. Also reather than having to pull over to discuss things like whether or not she or i want to make a pit stop or need a break.
All of this eliminates having to pull over to communicate and then having to re-merge into traffic after our conversation.

Im not sure what studies have been done on hands free phone operation of phones and whether just how much attention they draw away from us piloting cars or motorcycles. Ive on occasion answered my phone using my sena. I limit my phone calls to important or relevant things. I certainly dont just chat for the heck of it. But I find it usefull, and dont feel that it takes too much attention away from the road.

I havent had the sena for some of the cross country road trips Ive taken (with 3 other riders.) but, having some comms would have certainly been highly usefull during the trip.. like when one friend broke down on the main highways in Denver, or if we get split up in the large cities, which is almost inevitable.