Ergonomic study of riding a motorcycle between traffic lanes: the Parisian example

This paper presents a naturalistic study of motorcyclists? behaviours during their commutes in the Paris region. The study focuses on lane-splitting which consists in riding between traffic lanes. This phenomenon remains without detailed scientific analysis. In an ergonomic approach, 11 motorcyclists drove for a month with an instrumented vehicle with cameras. The video recordings enabled the description of the driving contexts and the conduct of self-confrontation interviews. The results concern the description of the motorcyclists? activity, the importance of lane-splitting in their daily journeys, and the study of the organizing elements of their behaviours. These results are discussed in terms of a better understanding of lane-splitting and in terms of the improvement of the existing situations: data question the possibility of a law regarding this practice and show the interests of training.