Keep Motorcyclists in Check

The Chief of Greater Tehran Traffic Police has also identified head injuries as the main cause of motorcyclist deaths, citing failure to wear helmets as a key factor. In a city with such figures, Tehran Municipality's Traffic and Transportation Organization has turned to a new approach: separating part of motorcycle traffic from general vehicle flow and building dedicated lanes for them.

Ace of Traffic Police of Greater Tehran has also announced head injuries as the main cause of death of motorcyclists and not using helmets is one of the main reasons for this situation. Now, in a city with such statistics, the Transportation and Traffic Organization of Tehran Municipality has found a new way; Separating a part of motorcycle traffic from the general flow of cars and building a dedicated route for them.

According to Ambassador Arjan, quoted from Sharq, more than 23,000 motorcycle accidents in six months; 9 thousand 86 injuries and 178 deaths. The latest statistics of the Tehran Traffic Police show that motorcyclists are still one of the main groups involved in accidents in the capital. They accounted for 48% of fatal accidents and 57% of injured accidents in Tehran. Out of 23 thousand 178 accidents registered in the first half of the year, 13 thousand 914 were damage cases.

The head of the traffic police of Greater Tehran has also declared the head injury as the main cause of the death of motorcyclists and has considered not using a helmet as one of the main reasons for this situation. Now, in a city with such statistics, the Transportation and Traffic Organization of Tehran Municipality has found a new way; Separating a part of motorcycle traffic from the general flow of cars and building a dedicated route for them.

The first phase of this plan is a network of about 14 kilometers on some highways leading to the city center, and Mahalati highway has been introduced as the first place for its trial implementation. Pouria Alimardani, CEO of Tehran Municipal Traffic and Transportation Organization, says that the additional reviews of the plan will probably be done this week or next week, and the experience of East Asian countries has also been taken into account in its design. Countries where motorcycles are a common means of urban travel and have separate routes to control its traffic. Alimardani said that this route is not going to be open to all motorcyclists unconditionally.

Riders who comply with regulations and wear helmets and have legible motorcycle license plates will be given priority, and electric motorcycles and motorcycles with technical inspection will also be given more points. From the point of view of the city management, this route can be an incentive for motorcyclists who follow the rules and a way to bring part of the motor traffic to a specific framework. Jafar Tashri Hashemi, head of the Civil and Transportation Commission of Tehran City Council, has a different view. Before examining the shape of the track and its width and the type of separator, he asks which problem of the motorcycle in Tehran is supposed to be solved by the special lane?

"The biggest mistake is not to recognize the problem and provide a solution for it. Those who plan to organize the motorcycle, if they do not understand the problem of the motorcycle, their solution can be as far from the reality and sometimes create new complications. When we say that the special motorcycle line should be determined first, which problem do we want to solve; Do we want the motorcycle to reach its destination faster? Do we want to create order for it inside the special line? Do we want to control it this way? The fact is that with these methods, none of the basic problems of organizing a motorcycle can be solved.

Hashemi considers the problem as a monitoring problem before he considers it a geometrical problem. According to him, motorcycles in Tehran are not just a cheap and fast means of moving people and goods; Part of its appeal comes from the possibility of overcoming the limitations that the car has to comply with.

He says: "As long as the motorcycle is a tool to break the law and ignore the urban dos and don'ts, any possibility you give it can lead to the escalation of indiscipline. In understanding the problem, we must understand why the motorcycle phenomenon has reached this point. The motorcyclist easily ignores the law, and on the other hand, regulatory agents such as traffic police and smart control systems are not able to effectively deal with these violations in many cases. In addition to this situation, the motorcycle is a cheap means of moving people and cargo, and it moves faster. When there is no effective control system, it is natural for the violations to continue."

From the point of view of the chairman of the construction and transportation commission of the council, giving a special line before solving this part of the problem may have the opposite result. He says: "Giving a special lane in such a situation is an extra point to speed up violations." In my opinion, it would be an unforgivable mistake to give a special lane before the monitoring, control and disciplinary mechanisms for motorcycles are implemented. First, it must be possible to monitor. After that, you will see that like in many other cities of the world, a motorcycle rider can travel in a specific order like a car."

Hashemi's question about route control still does not have a clear answer; If only legal motorists are to use the lane, what system will detect the garbled license plate? How is the use of helmets controlled? How will the motorcyclist without technical examination be removed from the track? And will motorcyclists, who are not allowed to enter the route, travel on other roads in the current form or will they be considered for another restriction?

Separating the motorcycle from the car is not a new idea and its examples have been implemented especially in several Asian countries. One of the most well-known experiences is the Federal Highway F02 Malaysia. A study published in 1995 about a dedicated 14-kilometer route in this axis showed that after the launch of the route, the total number of motorcycle accidents in the study area was about

It decreased by 25%, and in the part of the analysis where accidents on the main highway were excluded, a decrease of about 34% was reported. The researchers found this change to be statistically significant. Of course, this experience was not just a line drawn on the asphalt; The investigated route was separated from the main flow of traffic and had specific criteria for the width of the route and its distance from the rider, entrance and exit and separator. A systematic review published in 2022 examined 23 studies related to dedicated motorcycle routes. The samples of Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia were among these studies. The conclusion of the study was that separating motorcycles from mixed traffic can increase safety, but the design of these routes cannot be a scaled-down version of the car lane. The characteristic of motorcycle movement and rider's behavior, road width, capacity, speed, and traffic control method should be seen in the design. The authors of this research have also emphasized that the research literature in this field is still limited and there is no uniform standard regarding many design factors. Therefore, external experience by itself neither confirms nor rejects any special line. The form of separation and entry and exit, speed control and the possibility of applying regulations are the main part of the story.

This difference is important for Tehran. The complete map of the 14-kilometer network has not been published yet. The width of the path is not known. It is not known how much of the track is physically separated from the cars. The exact location of the entrances and exits and how to control the possible collision between the motorcycle and the car at these points have not been announced. No details have been provided about the speed limit, and the mechanism for controlling the conditions announced by the CEO of the Transport and Traffic Organization is not yet clear. This is despite the fact that according to the rules of city roads, the movement of motorcycles on the highways is prohibited, and the city management now wants to define a specific route for the traffic that has flowed on these roads for years. According to city managers, the choice of locations is related to the high volume of motorcycle traffic and the access of this axis to the market area.

Hashemi does not limit his concern only to the motorcycle track. He considers the history of implementing some traffic plans in Tehran as the reason for being more sensitive to the new plan and says that when an idea enters the street before the infrastructure is provided and the studies are completed, the cost is not just a few signs and lines. "There is no doubt that it will cost the city and it will take away public trust. When the expert work is not done and the targeting is not accurate and the studies are incomplete and weak, the result is that you spend money and then abandon the project. This is the result of not entrusting the work to his family and experts." He cites the Hammett Expressway HOV plan as one example: “HOV could have been a good plan in principle, but before the infrastructure was in place, they went and drew lines and put up signs and tools. Then the discussion of using BART lines and other routes was raised, and in the end, what was supposed to be implemented was not formed. They put signs and lines on the Hammet highway and put equipment, and then they saw that they couldn't do it, so they collected it." Hashemi does not consider this back-and-forth as an executive failure; According to him, every time a plan is announced and an operation is started and withdrawn from it, it consumes a part of the citizen's trust in the subsequent decisions.

The tram is another example mentioned by the head of the construction and transportation commission of the council. He says: "They went from China, loaded a tram and brought it to Iran. With all the noise and media advertising. Later, at night and out of the sight of the supervisory officials, they said that we tested it and it did not help, and we will cut it back. These are all costs. When the study is weak and the work is not entrusted to an expert, this is the result." From his point of view, the problem in both examples is not only the result of a project, but also the way of decision making.

A plan enters the street and then some questions are raised that should have been answered before implementation. Regarding the special motorcycle route, the same question is now facing the municipality. Alimardani says that the experience of East Asia has been examined and the use of the track can give points to the legal motorcyclist. Tashri Hashemi says that this privilege may become a "red carpet" for motorcycles before an effective violation control system is established. Transportation experts believe that there is still a gap between these two perspectives: pilot data. Before the development of the route, it should be known how many motorcycle accidents occurred on the Mahalati highway in the basic period, how many were injured and how many died, what share of the accidents were related to motorcycle and car collisions and what share were overturning or hitting obstacles. Without this data, even if the track seems smoother or more regular after a few months, it's impossible to judge its effect on safety. Mahalati Highway is now a test site for a project that the municipality wants to develop if successful. Malaysia's experience shows that a separated road can reduce accidents. The statistics of Tehran also show that the problem is so serious that it cannot be ignored by drawing a simple line. The main difference is right here. Is Tehran building a safe route with basic data and control system and evaluation criteria, or is it adding a new point to the motorcycle before solving the monitoring issue?

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