Australian motorcycle trainere motoDNA has developed a computer software system that analyses rider behaviour and uses a computer game environment to reward riders and improve their skills.
Founder Mark McVeigh says the system is “100% data driven”.
Using a GoPro mounted on your motorbike, the motoDNA software analyses riding, grades the rider and compared them to thousands of other riders.
Their algorithms are used to teach riders how to improve their skills in a “gamified” rewards-based community platform.
Mark says its black-box thinking similar to that used in the aviation industry.
“Aviation industry crashes are taken very seriously and as a result have an astonishing safety record,” he says.
“Every plane has a black box which is opened when there is an accident or close call.
“The root cause is clearly understood and then recreated with quality training in a simulator, so pilots take the correct and intuitive reaction to the problem when it happens again in the future.
“This evidence-based analytical loop ensures that procedures are adapted so that the same mistake doesn’t happen again.”
However, motoDNA doesn’t use crash data. It uses data collected by participants in their training courses.
Mark says high-quality training and rewards have worked in other countries.
In Norway, high-quality training has reduced the percentage of motorcycle riders involved in accidents from 5% in 1980 to 0.26% in 2020.
Mark also points to the success of the New Zealand Government’s Ride Forever program which rewards riders riders who undertake extra training with rego discounts.
He says this rewards system has resulted in a 27% for reduction in crashes for those riders who have done a skills course.