MSF President Tim Buche discusses motorcycle safety studies

PMMotorcycle Examiner Ken Bingenheimer
Phoenix police detectives look over the scene of a multi-motorcycle and trash truck accident on the Carefree Highway Thursday, March 25, 2010 in Phoenix, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York) The potential value of the "naturalistic" motorcycle rider study announced last week by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) is "almost too much to comprehend," said MSF President Tim Buche. That study will get underway in a few months, once newer, better equipment becomes available.
In an interview Friday, Buche spoke in part about the relationship between the MSF's decision to work with Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) on the naturalistic study and its decision not to help fund an Oklahoma State University (OSU) study of motorcycle crash causation.
Buche explicitly rejected the claim by Dr. Samir Ahmed, the head of the OSU study, that the MSF played games with the issue of funding the OSU study while all the time intending to fund the VTTI study instead. He described the MSF's decision process as follows.
1) The MSF board had been aware for some years that the naturalistic study option existed, but 2) it only learned in August of 2009 that it might be possible to conduct such a study with motorcycles. 3) The MSF initiated consideration of conducting a naturalistic study at a board meeting on Dec. 8, 2009, and 4) the proposal to actually do so was considered at the board's Mar. 18, 2010 meeting. 5) The decision to proceed was reached on Mar. 29, 2010.
"This was not a long, protracted, drawn-out discussion," said Buche. "The MSF may have contributed to a delay on the crash causation study since Dec. 8. We might have slowed it down but we certainly didn't put it on 'Pause.'"
Buche did confirm Ahmed's interpretation that the naturalistic study would have more relevance for training purposes than for infrastructure design or policy-making. He pointed out that most riders don't crash and the data generated by the VTTI study will help determine the factors that distinguish those who do from those who do not.
Whereas the crash causation study will gather data on reported crashes after they have occurred, the naturalistic study will equip motorcycles with sensors and cameras that will record road conditions, rider input, and a wealth of other factors at all times.
Note: We incorrectly reported here that the crash causation study will utilize cameras posted at intersections under study. The crash causation study will follow crash investigation practices developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and those practices do not include monitoring with video cameras.
A major strength of the naturalistic study, Buche explained, is that it will record not only accidents reported to the police but also "critical incidents" where the rider must adjust; near misses, where the rider takes "extreme evasive measures"; and crashes, even those where there is no injury and no police report.
Additionally, he said, "The data is not reliant on somebody else's assessment of what happened." He gave the example of a truck equipped with these cameras and sensors that crashed and the police concluded that the trucker was following too closely. The data showed, however, that in fact he had plenty of distance but took his eyes off the road for 4.5 seconds, and in that time traffic in front of him slowed abruptly. Afterward the trucker did not recall his distraction but it was there on tape.
As for the OSU crash causation study, Buche said, "We're excited about the fact that crash causation will continue." He said that while the VTTI study will track different data, for actual crash infomation the motorcycle industry will still have the MAIDS (Motorcycle Accident In Depth Study) and the OSU Study. The VTTI study "is just another input."
In the meantime, while the results from the OSU study will not be available for several years, the VTTI data will be available for analysis as early as one year from now. The plan is to equip 100 or more motorcycles with the sensory gear, in three jurisdictions. Different riders will be selected based on profiles that factor in elements such as driving record, years riding, training, age, and various physical characteristics.
"The MSF has committed at least $1.25 million up front and will probably spend more as this study spreads to other markets," he said. This money is not the same that was pledged by MSF members for the crash causation study, but instead comes from the normal MSF budget. The MSF is an organization made up on motorcycle manufacturers and Buche said that data from the VTTI study could be used by members in considering the instrumentation to be built onto their motorcycles.
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Tim Buche also discussed the MSF's new training initiatives. His comments will be presented in a follow-up article.

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