Conclusion

This report summarises the 3-year programme of PRIME road trials in Scotland funded by Transport Scotland and the Road Safety Trust. Throughout this work and the wider context of psychological theory, the approach taken has provided a planned and incremental development of understanding and building of evidence to take the work forward. This has been supported through the publication of scientific journal papers that demonstrate the work has been peer-reviewed and accepted to the highest international academic standards.

To date, 32,213 motorcycles have been manually counted and coded throughout the West Highlands with 9,919 lead motorcycles analysed in detail to understand the potential influence of PRIMEs on rider behaviour.

As far as the project consortium are aware, this makes the work the largest motorcycle behaviour investigation of its kind. Overall, the scientific evidence demonstrates that PRIMEs influence rider behaviour in positive ways by reducing speed, improving road position and reducing braking. 

These findings underpin Transport Scotland’s ‘Road Safety Framework to 2030′ that has identified motorcyclists as a Priority Focus Area with a target of 30% reduction in motorcyclists killed or seriously injured by 2030 (Transport Scotland, 2021).

The concept of PRIME gateway markings provides a simple and very cost-effective solution to help reduce single vehicle crashes on our roads (which are one of the main collision types for motorcycles). 

The evidence shows that if PRIMEs are installed they are used by motorcyclists and there have been no instances of a significant increase in speed, dangerous positioning, or increases in braking. These observations provide further evidence that PRIMEs did not have a detrimental effect on rider behaviour. 

In addition, while the collision data are low and not always known for each site, since the start of the trials there have been no motorcycle injury collisions at any of the previously identified cluster sites.

The findings support the development of bespoke motorcycle road safety measures by Transport Scotland that provide an important step in reducing motorcyclist road casualties. By demonstrating the positive influence of PRIMEs on rider behaviour and rider safety, this work showcases Transport Scotland as a leader in this initiative for the UK and the world. It highlights the important role of employing Human Factors expertise in road safety initiatives beyond the current work and in casualty reduction and road user behaviour more widely.