While infrastructure should be safe for every road user, in practise it becomes clear that our roads are designed and maintained from a car drivers’ perspective. FEMA’s Dolf Willigers asks ‘How about us?’
Nowadays much of my time is spent on infrastructure. Last year I had the opportunity to attend a three-day workshop of iRAP, the international Road Assessment Program, where I gave a presentation about motorcyclists’ needs for a safe infrastructure and where I listened to many other presentations by inspirational speakers from all over the world on subjects that had to do with infrastructure and safety.
The main theme was what effects the progressing development and use of ITS (intelligent transport systems) have on our infrastructure: are safe roads still an issue when all cars drive automatically? Our conclusion was: yes, we will need safe roads in the future. An obvious conclusion for motorcyclists, but not for everyone.
The transition to automated cars will probably go very fast in the near future, but it will take a long time before all cars are replaced with self-steering ones. If that ever will happen, of course. Motorcycles last a long time and it will take at least some decades before all existing motorcycles will be replaced with new ones. With this I mean motorcycles that are fitted with all the devices that are needed to communicate with other vehicles and that are equipped with advanced rider assist systems that take over part of the motorcyclist’s riding tasks. We doubted if there ever will be only automated vehicles on the road. After all, next to long lasting motorcycles there are historic vehicles, mopeds, speed pedelecs and many other road users that are not connected. Again: we will need safe infrastructure now and in the future.
It is estimated that there are more than 300 million powered two-wheelers in the world.
Written by Dolf Willigers
Photographs by Yamaha, Marcel Hille & Wim Taal
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