Braking Deceleration of Motorcycle Riders

Abstract

In a long-term study braking deceleration was measured with an instrumented motorcycle on a training facility. Straight-path braking maneuvers under dry road conditions starting from approximately 60 km/h (37 mph) to a full stop were conducted. Test persons were volunteers of all kinds of age and riding experience. It was found that half of the tested individuals did exploit only 56% or less of the possible maximum deceleration. By using data from an earlier study it could be confirmed that the use of an unfamiliar motorcycle cannot be blamed for this result. Therefore the study is a clear indication for a lack of braking skills among Austrian motorcyclists. Improvements on motorcycle braking systems and educational work within the motorcycle riders community are suggested as counter-measures.