Did you know according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

- Motorcycles comprise only 2% of registered vehicles, but account for 5% of traffic fatalities annually?

- The fatality rate per miles traveled for motorcyclists is 16 times that of car occupants?

So what is exactly being done to combat these numbers?

Well, beginning last year, BMW and Honda began a vehicle to vehicle (V2V) study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) to test and determine how cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles interact and react to V2V technology.

^{Photo courtsey of motorcycle.com}

“Two tasks will be conducted in the Safety Pilot Model Deployment Geographic Area as a proof of concept for incorporating motorcycles into the connected vehicle environment. The two tasks are motorcycle communications feasibility testing and motorcycle-to-vehicle performance testing,” says a press release from Cohda Wireless, the cooperative intelligent transport systems hardware manufacturer supplying the V2V communications technology.

V2V communication would give all vehicles the ability to communicate with each other and increase the safety of all vehicles on the road.

“If a motorcycle can, via V2V communication, communicate with an approaching vehicle and ensure it doesn't turn left until the motorcycle has passed, that'll eliminate a huge cause of motorcycle accidents,” says an article from motorcycle.com. “And if V2V communication is constant (every minute of every day), the technology will [supersede] the responsibility of the car driver to be vigilant of motorcycles, effectively turning Motorcycle Safety Awareness from a month of observance to an unremitting affair.”

Click here to watch a video from BMW on V2V.

Click here to watch a video on the Honda ASV-3 that uses V2V communication.

For more information visit: motorcycle.com