Collision Warning Strategies Using V2X: An Analysis of How Motorcycles and Bicycles Undergo Collisions

Connected vehicle technology which enables vehicles to communicate with nearby infrastructure and other vehicles is on the verge of revolutionizing transportation and vastly improving traffic safety. In recent years, many V2X systems have been tested worldwide in various complex traffic conditions. For example, in Taiwan, which typically can be characterized as a mixed flow heavy traffic environment that includes passenger cars, bicycles and motorcycles, developing such a V2X safety system becomes more complicated because these diverse vehicles have unique characteristics with regard to dynamics, size, driver behavior and directionality on roads, resulting in the complexity and variety of collision types. Insights into the crash patterns of motorcycles and bicycles are needed before developing a V2X collision warning system. For this reason, we analyzed the characteristics, accident types and features of various vehicle types using accident and traffic video data. We utilized accident statistics to identify critical collision patterns for each vehicle type. In addition, video data were collected to investigate the trajectories and driver behaviors with regard to each type of vehicle. We also performed comparisons of collision types and analyzed issues of system development for motorcycles and bicycles, the V2X power supply problem of non-motorized vehicles and potential challenges of issuing warnings in mixed flow traffic, etc.