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- [Speaker] Motorcycle related injuries
and deaths in Texas have been on the rise
in the last decade.
The most recently verified data shows
more than 3,300 fatalities and over 13,000 injuries
over a six-year period statewide.
The Texas Department of Transportation
and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute recently
collaborated in a multi-year project
to develop a guardrail retrofit design that will help
to reduce motorcycle rider fatalities
and serious injuries associated with barrier impacts.
- Motorcyclists typically, when they impact a guardrail,
the severity of the impact
of the motorcyclist is much more severe than it would be
to a standard car or truck.
- So, you know, we know motorcycle riders
are a smaller part of the driving population,
but we're seeing that they're one of the higher ones
as far as fatalities when impacting safety barriers.
So what we wanted to do here was try to address that
and see how we could reduce the fatalities
for the motorcycle riders.
- We started doing some looking into,
and TTI did some research for us
to basically design a rub rail,
which basically would mitigate some of the impact
the motorcyclist has with the guardrail.
- [Nathan] We took a standard TX DOT guard fence
that has a W-shaped W-beam rail
that kind of goes along the front, attaching to wood posts
or steel posts that are embedded in the ground.
What we did is took that system
and added really two key components for a motorcycle rider.
One that's kind of a protective rail
that goes along the top
in the event that maybe a motorcycle rider stays upright
through the impact, falls off their bike
and slides along the top.
The rail component kind of protects some
of those sharp edges you might have from a post or a rail.
And then we also had a secondary element along the bottom in
the case that maybe a rider slides off their bike
and is sliding into the system.
You kind of prevent that interaction
of going straight into a post
or straight past the guardrail system into
some other type of hazards.
So those were the two key components of this design
- As part of this research project,
TTI looked at a lot of variables
that might cause motorcyclists
to more easily leave the roadway.
So likely, we're gonna be providing some of
that guidance in our roadway design manual
to, you know, basically provide some guidance
as to when maybe the rub rail should be used
and other measures that will hopefully reduce the number
of motorcyclists who might leave the roadway
and hit a metal beam guard fence.
- So the primary benefit I think is gonna be
for motorcycle riders.
Again, trying to kind of have that increased safety
that when they're on the roadway, maybe trying
to navigate a dangerous curve.
Having that type of system out there in the event that,
you know, maybe a motorcycle rider loses control.
This is kind of a safe way
to kind of capture and contain them and prevent again,
that kind of serious injury for the motorcycle riders.
At the same time, not negating, you know,
safety for passenger vehicles.
So we not only evaluated the system for motorcycle riders,
but also for just a standard passenger vehicle
to make sure that any kind of design changes we made weren't
gonna be at a negative influence for the rest
of the driving population.
- [Speaker] For more information
and to find the publication for this project,
please visit the TX DOT research library
at the link shown below.