Motorcyclists' Preventive Riding and Visibility Through Intersections - A Qualitative Video Analysis

This study examines the visibility and preventive riding of motorcyclists at intersections, focusing on how these factors affect traffic safety. The research was conducted with a 30-minute driving route involving 62 motorcyclists, divided into three groups: Novice, Experienced Riders, and Professionals, based on their riding experience and driving competence, in varied traffic conditions. The study is divided into three main parts: visible positioning, preventive riding, and attention and readiness at intersections. Our findings reveal significant weaknesses in preventive riding at intersections, safety gaps in attention and readiness at intersections, and that motorcyclists can make themselves more visible to other road users at intersections, especially by giving other road users enough time to notice them. Preventive riding is an important part of defensive driving that is not well described in the literature. In this study, preventive riding is described and conceptualized to make it easier to recognize the degree of preventive riding in a driver. In the discussion, we employ the Bowtie model from safety theory as a framework to contextualize everyday driving behaviors within a safety perspective. This study demonstrates substantial safety potential in everyday driving practices. The research was conducted using eye-tracker cameras and analyzed and discussed using a driving process model. This study can provide important contributions to driver training, evaluation, curricula, and regulations for traffic education, as well as for refresher courses.

Keywords: Eyetracking, Motorcyclists, Fixation points, Safe riding, Preventive riding, Proactive barriers, Visibility, Readiness, defensive driving, Attention and decision, Hazard zone.