Road fatalities: Significantly increased risk of accidents for bikers

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Significantly increased risk of accidents for bikers

Road fatalities: Significantly increased risk of accidents for bikers-significantly

The number of serious motorcycle accidents with injuries or even deaths has decreased over the past decades. In 1980 almost 55,000 motorcyclists were on German Str…ate injured, in 2012 there were only half as many at 27,367. But the risk for bikers of suffering a fatal traffic accident is still significantly higher than for drivers

Source: dpa / bwu aen bwe

The risk of fatal injuries is four and a half times greater for motorcyclists than for motorists, warns the Auto Club Europe. Now there is at least a new emergency call system for two-wheelers.

D.he risk of being seriously or even fatally injured in an accident is four and a half times higher for motorcyclists in this country than for motorists, according to the Autoclub Europa (ACE). According to ACE, motorbikes were much more likely to be to blame for collisions between motorcycles and cars.

“You should never forget that motorcycles are easily overlooked by drivers because of their narrow frontal area. Especially after long periods of bad weather, many drivers do not expect fast two-wheelers, ”said ACE spokesman Rainer Hillgartner in Stuttgart.

However, motorcyclists often had accidents without the involvement of third parties. According to ACE, this applies to more than one in four motorcycle accidents. Reasons are overconfidence and recklessness. "A motorcycle is and remains an unstable device that cannot be controlled as easily as a car in a dangerous situation."

The ACE spokesman recalled that the level of equipment with driver assistance systems such as ABS is still far below that of cars. Partly responsible for this is the high average age of the motorcycles, which at almost 15 years are twice as old as the German car fleet.

Help out of the helmet

Meanwhile, the industry is researching new rescue systems at full speed. If an emergency call technology automatically triggers the emergency call after the crash, this can bring a decisive time advantage. A German helmet manufacturer has now launched a module that could save many lives in the future.

“RiderEcall” is the name of the automatic emergency call and location system from the helmet manufacturer Schuberth, which costs around EUR 500. The system uses five sensors to monitor the driving conditions, in particular the acceleration and inclination of the motorcycle. If two or more sensors report an alarm at the same time, the system sends an SMS including GPS coordinates to the emergency call control center of the Bjorn Steiger Foundation.

At the same time, the module establishes a telephone connection to the emergency call center, which addresses the motorcyclist via loudspeaker and microphone in the helmet. Either he answers and requests help himself, or the operator triggers the emergency call and forwards the GPS coordinates to the nearest rescue control center.

In the system, a motorcycle and a helmet unit are connected to one another via radio. According to the manufacturer, “RiderEcall” does not only work with Schuberth helmets. The module is ready for immediate use in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

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