Designing Highways for Motorcyclists

London’s Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook

Andy Mayo

“How can traffic engineers, highway design and

maintenance professionals contribute to

motorcycle safety in the urban environment?”

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-urban-motorcycle-design-handbook.pdf

• ACEM Guidelines for PTW Safer Roads Design in Europe http://www.acem.eu/images/stories/doc/publications/d_ACEMinfrastructurehandbookv2_74670.pdf

• FEMA Riderscan European Scanning Tour for Motorcycle

Safety http://www.fema-online.eu/riderscan/

• Safer Urban Motorcycling (eSUM) Good Practice Guide http://www.esum.org/index.html)

What guidance is available?

What guidance is available?

• IHE Guidelines for Motorcycling (www.motorcycleguidelines.org.uk)

Why a London Handbook?

• TfL’s Safe Streets for London and Motorcycle Safety Action Plan (2014)

• TfL Motorcycle Safety Working Group

• Met Police, MAG, BMF, MCIA, TfL officers

• No London-specific guidance on designing for motorcycles

Set in the context of the motorcycle collision situation

Source: London Assembly Transport Committee “Improving motorcycle safety on London Roads” March 2016

6 Transport for London, Casualties in Greater London during 2014

Motorcycle Collisions in London

7 Transport for London, Casualties in Greater London during 2014

Motorcycle Collisions in London

Why a Handbook?

2% mode share

10% of fatalities

21% of serious injuries

17% of all casualties

• Cycling mode share and casualty rates (2014 data)

Mode share and collision involvement

• Motorcycle mode share and casualty rates (2014 data)

1% mode share

21% of fatalities

24% of serious injuries

17% of all casualties

Why a Handbook?

• Limited previous consideration (e.g. Streetscape Design)

• To explain the main characteristics of motorcycles (and

motorcyclists) to those who are not aware.

Source: Motorcycle Roadcraft – The Police Rider’s Handbook

Why a Handbook?

• Outline how motorcyclists’ use of the road differs from

other groups

• Look at their unique requirements & vulnerabilities

• To explain how motorcyclists’ requirements can be better

accommodated in highway design and maintenance work.

TO MAKE SURE THAT TRANSPORT PROFESSIONALS AT

LEAST CONSIDER MOTORCYCLISTS AS PART OF THEIR

WORK.

Important to remember:

• The motorcycle road safety problem will not

be ‘solved’ just by better traffic engineering

• Other considerations include:

• Road user behaviour (all)

• Use of PPE

• Bike/rider visibility

• Education, enforcement

• Rider training

• Motorcycle development, ABS/electronics.

Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook

Unique characteristics of motorcyclists

Key factors influencing motorcyclists:

• Only two small contact points

• Most braking and steering through front tyre

• Riders try to avoid skidding at all costs

• Much easier to lose control than a car

• Follow different path in bends

Unique characteristics of motorcyclists

Key factors influencing motorcyclists:

• Very manoeuvrable, overtaking and filtering

• Appear where they are not expected

• Rapid acceleration

• Many similarities with cyclists

• All shapes and sizes.

Unique characteristics of motorcyclists

What is different about London?

• Journey purpose

• Distance

• Couriers / delivery (use of smaller machines)

• Congested (often narrow) streets.

What is different about London?

• Competition for space

• Level of filtering

• Driver reactions.

What is different about London?

How are London motorcyclists being injured?

How are London motorcyclists being injured?

How are London motorcyclists being injured?

• Gender: 9/10 male (but changing)

• Young bias

• Overtaking and filtering

• Speed.

Key challenges faced by motorcyclists

The 5 Key Challenges:

• Factors affecting grip

• Visibility

• Road-side features

• Traffic calming

• Filtering

Mainly safety

Mainly convenience

What’s not covered?

• Motorcycle parking

• Illegal user behaviour

• Armco barriers

• Rural issues

• Rider training

• Bus lanes

• Semi-segregated cycle lanes.

The Design Handbook

The 5 Key Challenges:

1) Factors affecting grip

2) Issues around visibility

3) Road-side features

4) Traffic calming

5) Filtering

Design Issues

1) Factors affecting grip

• Loss of control features prominently in collisions

involving motorcycles in London

• There are numerous road surface design issues that

can influence grip, both positively and negatively.

1) Factors affecting grip

1) Factors affecting grip

Storey’s Gate (Westminster)

1) Factors affecting grip

1) Factors affecting grip

1) Grip - Key Design Considerations

• Locate changes to surface types away from motorcycle

steering, braking & accelerating zones.

• Avoid using multi-layers of marking material to form ‘over-

run’ areas.

• Minimise the number of surface types used

• Can asphalt with higher skidding resistance be used

instead of HFS?

• Maintain it appropriately, only install on a structurally sound

surface

• Can service covers be moved/located away from areas

where motorcyclists may be expected to be travelling,

particularly in the vicinity of bends & junctions?

• Use covers which have a similar skid resistance to the

surrounding road environment.

2) Visibility

• “Failed to see” or “other vehicle turns into path of motorcycle” are

a key causation factors in many collisions involving motorcyclists.

2) Visibility – key design considerations

Sideways visibility:

• Ensure that appropriate visibility

splays are provided and that they

are unobstructed by street furniture:

- CCTV installations

- Traffic signal equipment

- Traffic signs

- Bus shelters

- Bins

- Seating areas

- Car parking

- Vegetation.

Forward visibility:

• Ensure that the minimum forward

visibility is equal to the minimum

Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)

• Take into account different road

positions that motorcyclists

occupy

• Consider future maintenance

regimes, especially for vegetation

in the Spring and Summer

months.

3) Road-side features

• Features that can form a

collision hazard to motorcyclists

within the carriageway

• Features that can form a

collision hazard for a rider if

they lose control and leave the

carriageway

• Little more than a minor

inconvenience to car drivers,

these features can be a source

of major injury or death to a

motorcyclist.

3) Roadside features

3) Roadside features

3) Road-side features – key design considerations

• Are the features within the carriageway

actually required?

• If required ensure that they are clearly

visible for all road users – reflective,

vertical bollards, illumination

requirements, continue road markings

around them?

• If required, can the road side

environment be softened?

- Remove / minimise guard railing

- De-cluttering (streetscape benefits)

- Mounting signs on existing columns

- Frangible post options

- Flexible bollards.

Light segregation cycle facilities

Light segregation cycle facilities

Tavistock Place

CS2

Greenwich

Light segregation cycle facilities

Light segregation key design considerations

• Higher separators (“wands”) preferred

- flexible posts

• If low separators are used then you

must have a taller more visible object

at the start of the run

• Good visibility (including at night –

reflectiveness requirements)

• Ensure general traffic lanes are of an

appropriate width

• Suitable gaps in between objects at

junctions required to meet turning

requirements

• Remember that over-runnable light

segregation can become detached

from road surface

• More research is needed.

4) Traffic calming

• Although traffic calming can help reduce road safety risk for all

road users, poorly designed traffic calming can be a source of

danger to the motorcyclist. Better design of new traffic calming

and revision of existing features can help address these issues.

4) Traffic calming

4) Traffic calming – key design considerations

• Consider spacings between cushions and

between outer most cushion and the

kerbs (ideally at least 1.5m gap)

• Consider whether ‘2 cushion’ or ‘3

cushion’ layouts are most suitable.

• Do sinusoidal road humps represent a

viable alternative?

• Locate vertical traffic calming away from

turning / braking areas, including bends

• Are side-road entry treatments required,

or can other methods, such as tight corner

radii be used to reduce vehicle speeds?

• Can a surface material which has a similar

skid resistance to the surrounding road

environment be used?

• Regular inspection, maintenance and

repair regime needed if granite setts /

block paving are used.

5) Filtering

• Motorcyclists can experience various barriers to safe filtering,

some of which are infrastructural such as wide refuge islands or

constrained traffic lane widths, and some behavioural in nature.

Good design can facilitate safer filtering or at least not make

conditions worse for motorcyclists.

5) Filtering – key design considerations

• Need to observe road user

behaviour

• Is there likely to be a legitimate

demand for offside filtering?

• Would it be appropriate to provide

wider traffic lanes which allow

motorcyclists to filter ‘in lane’ to the

offside

• Consider whether there is potential

to improve network resilience to

reduce queuing and the need for

motorcyclists (and cyclists) to filter

• Are there options to better (and

safely) accommodate the more

readily expected offside filtering?

TfL Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook

email: andy.mayo@local-transport-projects.co.uk

Andy Mayo (Director) Local Transport Projects Ltd.

tel. 01482 679911

Any questions?