A Review of Motorcycle Safety Technologies from the Motorcycle and Passenger Car Perspectives

Motorcycle riders have been the top contributor to road deaths for over a decade in Malaysia. With proper safety technology systems installed on the upcoming models, it is predicted that motorcycle crashes and deaths can be reduced in the next decade. This study aims to review the past, recent, and upcoming vehicle safety technologies from the motorcycle and passenger car perspective that can potentially help reduce motorcycle crashes and injury risks. Various safety technologies have been introduced for passenger cars such as anti-lock braking systems, electronic stability control, lane keep assistance, traction control, blind-spot detection, autonomous emergency braking, and many more. With the requirements of ASEAN NCAP, these technologies are introduced to make passenger cars safer and to avoid road collisions, especially with the motorcycle. However, the opposite is true for motorcycles where only expensive motorcycles have these safety technologies, while for lower- capacity motorcycles, only basic and compulsory technologies are introduced even though this group remains the top contributor to motorcycle crashes and road deaths in Malaysia. Therefore, it is suggested that more safety technologies be introduced for motorcycles especially lower-capacity models. While for passenger cars, there are newer technologies that can be introduced to improve the current offerings to enhance the safety of passenger cars and other vehicles on the road and reduce the risk of road fatalities.