The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Motorcycle Collision Survey

Albert T. Baxter (atbaxter@imsweb.net)
Wed, 12 Nov 1997 12:22:01

Next year the joint NAPARS/NATARI/NJAAR/MATAI conference will be conducting
motorcycle crash tests. I will be putting my two cents in as to how the
configurations should be between the vehicles. I would like to do an
'informal' survey of the community regarding mc collisions. I will compile
the data recieved and pass the results along in a post on this site. Here's
the information I would like feedback on...........

MOTORCYCLE COLLISION SURVEY

I am only interested in motorcycle - vehicle collisions (no fixed objects
or run off road single vehicle crashes)

Type of Motorcycle involved:

(Sport [SPT] - i.e. Honda Hurricane, CBR's, Kawasaki Ninja, GPZ,
Suzuki GSXR, Katana etc.)
(Touring [TOUR] - i.e. Honda Goldwing, Pacific Coast, Kawasaki
Voyager, Harley FLH etc.)
(Cruiser [CRU] - i.e. Kawasaki Vulcan, Harley Low Rider, Suzuki
Intruder, Honda Shadow, includes choppers)
(Standard [STD] - i.e. Triumph Daytona, BMW K or R series, Kawasaki
LTD, Honda CB series etc.
(Combination [COM] - i.e. Honda Trans-Alp, Kawasaki KL series, cycles
that can be used either on-street or off road
(Scooters [SCU] - i.e. Honda Elite, Helix Yamaha Spree, Lambretta etc.
(Other [OTH] - Kind of a catch all a description is needed

Estimated or calculated impact speed between motorcycle and other vehicle

PDOF towards the motorcycle. Use front end/wheel of MC as 12 o'clock.
Thus, if other vehicle made left turn into path of motorcycle, impact PDOF
would be from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock.

Impact point on other vehicle: same clock positions with 12 towards front
of vehicle. As in example above, if mc struck right rear quarterpanel the
impact would be at 5 o'clock.

Actions by other vehicle:

LT - Left turn
RT - Right turn
UT - U-turn
Pull from park position
Crossover (head-on, sideswipe etc.)
Rear end

Optional- MC Operators AGE and if properly licensed for MC by state

I have already compiled this data from about 130 mc accidents from Phila.,
would like to broaden this information to recommend a crash test
configuration most common for investigators to utilize the test results.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Al Baxter

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