Road environment

The quality of the road surface is much more important for the safety of PTW’s than for cars. Poor condition of the road surface or small objects on the road are likely to cause loss of control of a two wheeled vehicle.

The European Motorcycle Industry has prepared “Guidelines for PTW safe road design in Europe” [18]. This is an inventory of aspects that are relevant for (the safety of) PTW’s with attention to road design, road maintenance, traffic engineering and traffic management. Particular problems in view of PTW safety are:

• All kinds of speed inhibitors in urban areas with different types of road surface, speed humps, lane narrowing's etc.
• Use of raised lane markings and lane dividers
• Poor maintenance and temporary road repairs