Dr. Michael Jenkins, Senior Scientist at Charles River Analytics, delivered an invited talk at the third-annual Motorcyclist Advisory Council (MAC) meeting of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on December 12, 2018. The meeting focused on discussions of potential recommendations for the Secretary of Transportation on infrastructure safety for motorcyclists, as well as potential methods to implement intelligent transportation system technology into existing roadways.

“Connected vehicle and infrastructure technology will revolutionize roadway safety,” said Dr. Jenkins. “However, connectivity must be extended to all shared roadway users, especially vulnerable users such as motorcyclists, to reach the shared Vision Zero safety goal.”

In his “Enabling Safer Riding Decisions via Technology” talk, Dr. Jenkins provided an overview of our work on our USDOT FHWA-funded BARRACUDA effort. BARRACUDA is designed to take advantage of connected vehicle and infrastructure networks, as well as crowdsourced data collection and on-motorcycle computer vision solutions, to improve motorcycle safety by setting the stage for motorcycles to sign on to the connected vehicle and infrastructure networks, while provided alternative technology enabled safety benefits in the near-term.