FHWA to Study the Causes of Motorcycle Crashes

A new study that aims to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes will begin in the U.S., Victor Mendez, a Federal Highway Administration member, recently revealed. Though highway safety has improved a lot in the past years and the overall number of roadway fatalities decreased, motorcycle riders are still one of the highest-risk groups on America's roads.

"Having a better understanding of what causes these crashes will help us improve roadway safety for everyone," Mendez was quoted as saying by consumeraffairs.com. "Keeping people safe on America's roads is Secretary (Ray) LaHood's top priority at the Department of Transportation."

In fact, studying the causes of motorcycle crashes is federal government's first major in-depth analysis of motorcycle safety in nearly three decades. The study will be conducted by the Federal Highway Administration along with the Oklahoma State University.

The University’s Transportation Center is among the first ten centers in the U.S., and it receives federal grants to conduct transportation research. Hundreds of motorcycle crashes will be a subject to this study, in order to identify common factors including road configurations, environmental conditions and rider experience.

Mitigating these factors should lead to preventing motorcycle crashes or reduce the overall damage when they occur.

"OSU is delighted to be the lead research institution for this important study," said Dr. Alan Tree, associate dean for research in OSU's College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, for the aforementioned source. "We expect very significant, scientifically valid results to emerge from this work and look forward to a very positive final outcome."