The Asociación Nacional de Empresas del Sector de Dos Ruedas (Anesdor), an association which is formed of companies working in the two-wheeled motoring sector, along with the Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE), have launched a campaign which focusses on the use of airbags for motorcyclists.
The campaign, accompanied by the hashtag #PonteUnAirbag, aims to raise awareness among motorcycle and moped users of the advantages of wearing a vest or a jacket with an airbag.
As both RACE and Anesdor have underlined in the presentation ceremony, motorcyclists are vulnerable users in traffic and their road safety should be a “priority” on the social agenda. For this reason, the jackets with airbags have stood out, which protect the torso, vital organs, and the cervical area in the event of an accident. This campaign has had the collaboration of the general director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, the president of Dorna, the company in charge of organizing the world motorcycling championships and with the image of the motorcycling champion Jorge Martínez Aspar.
Among the conclusions, it stands out that seven out of ten respondents know about motorcycle airbags, but only 4% use them regularly, 5% occasionally and 91% have never used these protection elements, has lamented the president of RACE, Carmelo Sanz. The general secretary of Anesdor, José María Riaño, has highlighted the “great importance” of the airbag for motorcyclists, “an accessible reality in the market that has great potential to reduce injuries in the event of an accident”.
Airbag protection
The RACE in support of this campaign has produced a study in which the effectiveness, in an impact test, of three different types of airbags for motorcyclists has been propagated. In all three cases, the airbag deployed before the manikin hit the vehicle (in less than 120 milliseconds).
Deceased motorcyclists
In the words of Pere Navarro, during 2020 there were 870 deaths on all roads. Over the weekend in Spain there were more than 900 from coronavirus … which gives an idea of the magnitude of the dramas. The DGT will not use 2020 as a road safety reference because it has been very rare. But in 2019, 416 motorcyclists died, 11 percent more than in 2018, and since 2014, the number of victims has increased every year, and 220 of them on a secondary road, most of them on weekends, off the road, with somewhat old motorcycles. Motorcycles in Spain are 19 percent of vehicles and 27 percent of accidents, hence the interest of the DGT in improving the safety of motorcyclists.
Bikers opinion
The RACE has prepared a survey, with 1,330 online interviews of drivers over 18 years of age, conducted between July 14 and 22 of last year. In it, 7 out of 10 respondents are aware of the existence of motorcycle airbags. Regarding which systems with airbags are, jackets are the best known to motorcyclists, with 3 out of 4 motorists knowing these garments, followed by neck protectors with airbags with 61% and harnesses with airbags with the same. We have seen how 3 out of 4 motorcyclists know about the protective jacket with incorporated airbag, but only 4% of those surveyed use them regularly or always, so the level of use of these systems is not very widespread today.
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