Case Studies

This case study reports on a trial that retrofitted motorcyclist-friendly safety barriers and roadside treatments along routes with a documented over-representation of motorcyclist crashes. Conventional safety barriers protect vehicle occupants but can increase injury severity for riders who slide into exposed posts; the trial installed under-run rub-rails and continuous-profile barriers, removed or made frangible hazardous roadside furniture, and improved sightlines and surface friction on high-risk curves.

Site selection used crash history and proactive risk screening to target the corridors where treatment would prevent the most serious motorcyclist trauma. The trial collected before-and-after crash frequency and severity data alongside rider feedback, and assessed lifecycle cost against the safety benefit. Results supported wider adoption of motorcyclist-aware barrier specifications and fed into updated roadside-design guidance, demonstrating how the Safe Roads and Safe Vehicles pillars can be tuned specifically for motorcyclist protection.