Motorcycle to car collisions: evaluation of energy loss and relative impact velocity

An analysis of collisions between motorcycles and cars is presented, with the limitation that the motorcycle is involved in its frontal part, with wheelbase shortening. The work focuses on finding an empirical formulation for the relative velocity, allowing for the presence of the motorcycle's rider at the moment of collision. In addition, attention is givent to the crash energy loss evaluation, which is an essential parameter for estimating the relative velocity of the vehicles. Motorcycle to vehicle crash tests carried out, highlight that with the formulation here proposed a good estimation of relative velocity can be obtained. In addition, a semi-empirical approach is introduced for the evaluation of the kinetic energy lost by the two vehicles in the collision, when the front part of the motorcycle is involved in the collision. It aims at providing a method for calculation that is independent of the zone of the car involved in the impact.