International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No.

3, May 2013

Increase Visibility for Motorcyclist Detection at Night for

the Purpose of Avoiding Accidents Using a Simple RF
Circuit
M. F. Basar and N. H. A. Razik, Member, IACSIT

accidents are caused by driver carelessness. Fig. 1 shows the

example of motorcycle accident in Malaysia.

AbstractThis paper describes the effectiveness of Smart

Motorcycle Safety Vest (SMS-V) for motorcyclist in Malaysia.
The SMS-V is the reflex of light shirts and fitted with red and
bright yellow LEDs which become the third light for brake and
signals. Besides that, the SMS-V is employing the simple RF
circuit which is not expensive. According to statistics of road
accidents in Malaysia, accidents involving motorcyclists has a
high number and it increases every year. As a result, many
young people died and some have suffered permanent
disabilities and this is a great loss to society and country.
Therefore, there should be an alternative effort to ensure that
this group is not a victim in the accident. Basically, the accident
on the motorcycle is happened because most of motorcyclist are
not concerned about safety where the mistakes that frequently
happen is wearing dark colored clothing. According to the
research experimental works, a motorcycle can only be known
by the headlight and taillight of motorcycle at a distance of less
than 180 meters. If a vehicle such as car and lorry at a speed of
90km/h faced with a motorcyclist, the vehicle only has 6 seconds
to be alert to the presence of motorcyclists. Instead, this product
able to assist road users about the presence of a motorcyclist at
a distance of 500 meters, which is three times better than
normal conditions. Based on motorcycle registration statistics
released by the Malaysian Road Transport Department, as at
January 2012, almost 10 million motorcycles were registered in
Malaysia. If SMS-V is used only 50% of the number stated
above, roughly, it will become a fashion and give a great impact
to the motorcyclists as the product itself offers an interesting
look. Hence, it is believed that this research is able to reduce the
number of road accidents which often happen to motorcyclists
in Malaysia

Fig. 1. Motorcycle accident in Malaysia.

TABLE I: STATISTICS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS IN MALAYSIA
Vehicle
Involved

I. INTRODUCTION
Road accidents have caused huge losses to the country. It
involves an injury, suffering and death but the histories of
road accidents seem endless in Malaysia. Thus, the desire to
travel safely and smoothly remains as intention of the
government and the individual road users. Therefore,
currently many different efforts have been developed to
avoid vehicle crash on the road especially that involve with
motorcyclists. In Malaysia, 96% of injuries and deaths from
Manuscript received January 21, 2013; revised March 25, 2013. The
authors would like to express sincere gratitude to Universiti Teknikal
Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Malaysia for sponsored the fees for Malaysias
patent filling application. The patent filing number: PI201100001.
The authors are with Faculty of Technology Engineering, Universiti
Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal,
Melaka, Malaysia (e-mail: mfarriz@utem.edu.my, hazana@utem.edu.my).

DOI: 10.7763/IJAPM.2013.V3.208

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Motorcycle

376,061

411,976

428,475

441109

472307

Car

97,072

104,302

111,958

113381

113962

Van

19,031

20,465

21,187

20501

19220

School Bus

1,106

1,235

1,274

1134

1160

Factory Bus

1,126

1,176

1185

1120

864

Express
Bus

1,836

2,156

2,091

2056

2348

Small Lorry

12,372

13,915

17,464

18290

16459

Lorry

20,284

20, 406

19,138

18262

19188

9,406

10, 494

11,193

11101

11077

19,106

20,928

22,018

22656

23581

Taxi

7,043

7,754

8,816

8816

8669

Bicycle

2,751

2,857

2,693

2443

2486

Total of
Vehicle
Involved

581,082

635,082

668,173

676114

705623

Trailers and
Tanker
Trucks
Four-wheel
Drive

Index TermsLight emitting diode, motorcyclist, third light,

safety vest, Malaysia.

217

Year

The invention basically is well suited for motorcycle rider,

where the safety vest (SMS-V) equipped with the third safety
brake LED light, left and right signal LED light and LED
taillight that is more transparent to road users. The reason
why LED light is used because most of the road accident
happens due to visibility where the road user could not see
the presence of the motorcyclist in front or next to them.
Obviously, the major factor to road accidents is the result
of failure of the road user himself when on the road. Table I
shows the Statistics of Road Accidents in Malaysia referred

International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 2013

quite expensive and for that reason SMS-V project is

employed the RF technology.
Nowadays vehicle detection and shape recognition based
on optical sensors has becoming an area of active research
among researcher and development departments of civil
defense, traffic police and universities. A successful vehicle
detection and shape recognition algorithm will pave the way
for vehicle recognition, vehicle tracking and safety
improvements [5]-[8].
In addition, many inventors have come out with many
inventions of jacket, vest and traffic signaling system.
Reference [9] shows a motorcyclist garment with illuminated
traffic signals comprising: a garment having a back side, a
neck opening, and arm openings; and a light-emitting
assembly. The light emitting diode (LEDs) are powered and
triggered by the signal tapped directly from the signal at the
motorcycle tail, break and left and right signal fixture.
Although the garment conveniently getting the power source
from the motorcycle tail, the motorcyclist has inconveniently
reconnect and disconnect when they embark and disembark
from the motorcycle especially when having to do some work
which require small time frame such as going to the toilet or
automated teller machine (ATM). On the other hand, the
SMS-V employs a wireless technology in order to provide
comfort to the motorcyclist.
H.G. Ross et al. [10] developed a brake light warning
system for safety helmets includes a transmitter module
adapted for mounting to a vehicle, such as a motorcycle, and
a receiver module adapted for mounting to a safety helmet [9].
The transmitter module is configured to continuously
transmit a transmission signal when a brake of the vehicle is
disengaged and discontinue transmission of the transmission
signal when a brake of the vehicle is engaged. The
disadvantage of this invention is the limited application, of
only giving a breaking signal to the road users. By having the
breaking light warning system on the helmet could cause the
system to be very unreliable due to riders occasionally turns
their head left or right looking for direction or just distracted
by the road objects.
V.M. Pacheco et al. [11] investigated about a traffic
signaling device system for motorcyclists comprising a safety
brake and running light assembly mounted to a motorcycle
jacket [10]. The safety brake light has an L.E.D. housing
supported by an outboard support member and a leather piece.
The disadvantage of this system is it requires the rider to
mount the LEDs on the jacket, connect some wiring to the
motorcycle tail and mount the control box to the gas tank or
near the motorcycle controls. This is very time consuming
and inconvenient to the users.
Ahmad Zaki et al. [12] reported that, a sensor and camera
can be used in real time system which proven for visual
monitoring and detection purposes. The system consists of
sensors, a number of cameras, a GPRS modem and PC where
it has microcontroller to which sensors are wired, cameras
and GPRS modem that are connected to the personal
computer. If the system retrieves data from the sensors and
cameras, it sends SMS to users. However, the disadvantage
of this system is complex and a bit expensive compare to the
simple RF system.

to the Driving Education Curriculum from Road Transport

Department of Malaysia (JPJ) where the number of road
accidents involving motorcyclists has a high number and it
increases every year [1]. As a result, many young people died
and some have suffered permanent disabilities. This is a great
loss to society and country as they are the heirs and human
capital for national development.

II. METHODOLOGY
Generally, the research works consists of literature review
on previous work, development of RF controller circuit,
design and development smart vest attached with LED and
finally field experimental tests. The purpose of adopting the
research methodology is to obtain the desired experimental
results during the field experimental work. The main
intention of this research is to develop a safety vest that can
be used as the third light for brake and signal of the
motorcycle, where it is facilitated with wireless technology.
In the Stage 1, the materials and components are assemble
to develop the transmitter and receiver controller circuit
using the RF technology. The transmitter controller circuit is
located under the seat of motorcycle and the receiver is
attached at safety vest. Then, in Stage 2, the white, yellow
and red LED strip is attached to the safety vest. In addition
the LEDs are connected with the receiver controller box. In
final stage, the field testing is conducted in order to
investigate the performance of SMS-V and the field testing
was conducted at night. Besides that, the testing has been
done to compare the effect of both with and without
innovative safety vest. Analysis is carried out to verify the
performance of SMS-V. The analysis is aligning with the
reliability and functionality of the RF controller box in the
SMS-V.

III. LITERATURE REVIEWS

Nowadays, global economic crisis already becoming a
gigantic anxiety for some countries in the world. In general,
almost medium earners have to change their lifestyle
including the vehicle they ride. Due to that, the numbers of
motorcycle riders has increased dramatically, which also the
demand of high quality light vest becomes imminent. Nearly
half of accident occurred correspond to the motorcycle riders
are due to the visibility of these motorcycle rider to the other
road users. During night, fog and even haze, the risk increase
as the traffic visibility become less.
Most of these transportation deaths and injuries occur on
the nations highways. The United Nations has ranked
Malaysia 30th among countries with the highest number of
fatal road accidents, registering an average of 4.5 deaths per
10,000 registered vehicles. The effect of variety of road
condition contributes to road accidents. In addition, lane
detection is not easy due to the varying road condition while
driving. For that reason, one of the main technology involves
is computer vision which become a powerful tool for sensing
the environment and has been widely used in many
application by the intelligent transportation systems (ITS)
[2]-[4]. However, optical sensors and computer vision is
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International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 2013

IV. DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE SAFETY VEST

existing wiring of the motorcycle. Then connect the six wires

to the transmitter controller box as shown in Fig. 4. It is good
to know that, most of the motorcycles have the wiring under
the seat, thus it is easy to attach the transmitter controller box
under the motorcycle seat. The installation of the transmitter
controller box can be completed approximately less than five
minutes. In addition, the controller box is only need to be
installed during the first time used and it is permanently
connected.

The smart motorcycle safety vest (SMS-V) as shown in

Fig. 7, comprising red LED light for brake, yellow LED light
for left and right signal and another red LED for taillight
which is embedded in the safety vest. The strip LED is sewed
between the materials of the vest in order to have a rigid
position.
The most significant concept in this project is the
utilization of existing motorcycle signal wiring as the
triggering signal for RF transmitter controller circuit in order
to activate the LED on the SMS-V. Besides that, the use of
wireless controller (RF) for the purpose to transmit the
motorcycle signal to the receiver controller circuit located in
the vest is also a part of novelties. In addition, the wire
connection and arrangement of electronics component
including the arrangement of LED strip; the transmitter and
receiver controller circuit in the SMS-V is original design.
Finally, the way of the transmitter controller box is tap with
the existing motorcycle wiring is also a new technique.
A. Stage 1
The intention of stage 1 is to develop a transmitter and
receiver controller circuit for the SMS-V. The controller
basically using the radio frequency (RF) technologies with
the frequency employed is 40MHz. Transmitter controller
box as shown in Fig. 2 is powered by two AA 1.5V batteries.
This controller need to be attached at the motorcycle and the
best place is under the seat of motorcycle.

Fig. 4. Transmitter controller box connect to the motorcycle wiring.

Fig. 5. Receiver controller box.

Fig. 2. Transmitter controller box of SMS-V.

Fig. 5 depicted the receiver controller box of SMS-V

where it is powered by three AA 1.5V batteries and this
controller is attached inside the vest. Essentially, this
controller will receive a signal which is trigger and send out
by the transmitter control circuit. Simultaneously, the
receiver will activate the circuit for switch on the brake light,
left and right signal attached at the SMS-V dependable to the
signal send by transmitter.

Fig. 3 shows the situation before and after the transmitter

controller box connected with the motorcycle wiring system.
In addition, the transmitter controller box is connected and
placed under the motorcycle seat for the reason to provide a
convenient and easiness to the motorcyclist and also to
prevent the transmitter controller box from any damage.

Fig. 3. Transmitter controller box attached in the motorcycle.

Basically, the user has to take only six wires from the

Fig. 6. Wiring diagram of SMS-V system.

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International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 2013

Fig. 6 is the overall working system of the SMS-V. It can

be concluded that the system is not complex, inxpensive and
easy for troubleshooting if there is any problem in the future.

V. HIGH RELIABILITY ON THE ROAD

The field testing activities have been conducted at
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) at night with a
real motorcycle on the road in order to investigate the
performance of this innovative safety vest. Table 2 shows the
time to alert for other vehicle for two different conditions
which are with and without the SMS-V. It shows that, by
using the SMS-V, time available for other vehicles is more
and greater compare with no safety vest.

B. Stage 2
The innovation safety vest, SMS-V has the strip LED
which is sewed within the vest. It has third safety brake LED
light, left and right signal LED light and LED tail light
powered by a 12Vdc light weight rechargeable battery that
offers high intensity thus excellent visibility to the
motorcycle riders. The transmitter controller box is placed
under the rider seats, which connected directly to the
motorcycle signal. Basically while the rider switch on the
brake, left or right button signal at the motorcycle handle, the
transmitter controller box will trigger and transmit the
respective signal to the receiver controller box located inside
the SMS-V and it will respond accordingly.

TABLE II: TIME TO ALERT FOR OTHER VEHICLES.

Without SMS-V

With SMS-V

Speed of the
Other Vehicle

Time to alert

Speed of the
Other Vehicle

Time to alert

50 km/h

10.8 second

50 km/h

36.0 second

60 km/h

9.0 second

60 km/h

30.0 second

70 km/h
80 km/h

7.7 second
6.8 second

70 km/h
80 km/h

25.7 second
22.5 second

90 km/h

6.0 second

90 km/h

20.0 second

100 km/h

5.4 second

100 km/h

18.0 second

110 km/h

4.9 second

110 km/h

16.4 second

120 km/h

4.5 second

120 km/h

15.0 second

According to the research experimental works, a

motorcycle can only be known by the headlight and taillight
of motorcycle at a distance of less than 160 meters as shown
in Fig. 8.
Front

Rear

Fig. 7. Front view and rear view of the innovative safety vest.

Referring to Fig. 7, it can be seen that SMS-V comprises a

flexible strip LEDs yellow, red and white attached in front of
the SMS-V. Number 1 and 6 represent the LED taillight,
number 7 and 8 represent right signal LED light, number 9
and 10 represent the left signal LED light and number 11 and
12 represent the brake LED light. In addition, number 2, 3, 4
and 5 is an additional for front light. Besides that, for the rear
side of the SMS-V, number 13, 14, 15 and 16 represent the
LED taillight, number 17, 18 and 19, 20 represent the left and
right signal respectively and number 21 to 24 represent the
brake light. The entire LED positive terminal is soldered
together according to its function while the negative terminal
connected to the ground. All wires were connected directly to
the receiver controller box which is powered by dry cell
battery AA 3V. Besides that, the dry cell battery 12V is used
to power the LED strip of the SMS-V.
At the beginning, rider have to switch the main button
inside the vest in order to activate the receiver control box
and to turn on the tail light (no 1, 6, 13, 14, 15 and 16) and
front light (no 2 -5). During riding, while the rider pulls the
front brake, the SMS-V brake light (no 11, 12, 21 - 24) will
turn on. While the rider push the right or left signal, the
SMS-V right (no 7, 8, 19 and 20) or left (9, 10, 17 and 18)
signal will blink respectively. In addition, the LED attached
to the vest will blink in the same frequencies with the
motorcycle signal.

Fig. 8. Distance difference for with and without innovative safety vest.

If a vehicle such as car and lorry at a speed of 90km/h

bump with a motorcyclist, the vehicle only has 6 seconds to
take appropriate action to the situation. SMS-V which is
developed from this research also able to assist other road
users about the presence of a motorcyclist at a distance of 500
meters, which is three times better than normal conditions.
Fig. 9 shows the graph where time to alert in seconds
versus speed of other vehicle in kilometer per hour (km/h).
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International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 2013

From the graph, it illustrates that, if other road users increase

their vehicle speed, the time to identify motorcyclists on the
road was exponential decline patterned; regardless using or
not the safety vest. Fortunately, a motorcycle rider who is
wearing the safety vest can be identified much earlier,
approximately three times better if compared to without
wearing the vest
Referred to the Fig. 10, the exterior of the radar is a speed
of vehicle that has been distinguished; and the center point of
radar is the beginning of time. The radar also shows the
performance comparison of two situations; with and without
SMS-V. It demonstrates the blue line (without SMS-V) is
closer to the center but the red lines (with SMS-V) are
avoiding the center point. It proves that, the use of safety vest
is very much better than normal.

accidents in Malaysia. Besides that, it is believed that this

research capable to safe many motorcyclists especially young
people and simultaneously help the country, not to run out of
human capital.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Malaysia for
sponsored the fees for Malaysias patent filling application.
The patent filing number: PI2011003369 and was registered
14 May 2011. In addition, the authors also would like to
thank you to JPJ Melaka, JKJR Melaka and MKJR Melaka
for their support and advice throughout this research activity.
REFERENCES
[1]

Driving Education Curriculum, Road Transport Department of

Malaysia (JPJ), Ministry of Transport, Malaysia, 2010.
[2] H. M. Atiq, U. Farooq, and R. Ibrahim, Vehicle detection and shape
recognitiopn using optical sensors, in Proc. the Bizarre Fruit
Postgraduate Confenrence, UK, 2010, pp. 107-123.
[3] J. Hirasawa and M. Kakikura, Motion analysis of motorcycles: A
study on DCT mechanism, in Proc. the Bizarre Fruit Postgraduate
Confenrence, UK, 2010, pp. 127-131.
[4] Y. Lao, J. Remillard, and D. Hoetzer, Pedestrian Detection in
Near-Inferared Night vision System, presented at the 2010 IEEE
Intelligent Vehicles Sysmposium Universitty of California, San Diego,
USA, CA, June 21-24, 2010.
[5] A. A. M. Assidiq, O. O. Khalifa, R. Islam, and S. Khan, Real time lane
detection for autonomous vehicles, in Proc. the International
Conference on Computer and Communication Engineering, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, 2008, pp. 107-123.
[6] E. D. Bekiaris, A. Spadoni, and S. I. Nikolaou, Saferider Project : New
safety and confort in powered two wheelers, presented at the 2010
IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Sysmposium Universitty of California, San
Diego, USA, CA, June 21-24, 2010.
[7] M. Pieve, F. Tesauri, and A. Spadoni, Mitigation Accident Risk in
Powered Two Wheelers domain: Improving effectiveness of Human
Machine Interface Collision Avoidance System in Two Wheelers,
Humans System Interaction 2009- University of Catania, Catania, Italy,
May 21-23, 2009.
[8] E. D. Bekiaris, A. Spadoni, and S. I. Nikolaou, Saferider Project: New
Safety and Comfort in Powered Two Wheelers, Humans System
Interaction 2009- University of Catania, Catania, Italy, May 21-23,
2009.
[9] E. C. Restauro, Motorcyclist garment with illuminated traffic signals,
U.S. Patent 6,558,016 B1, May 6, 2003.
[10] H. G. Ross, Jr. and B. Wilcox, Brake light warning system for safety
helmets and method of operation, U.S. Patent 7,109,857 B2,
September 19, 2006.
[11] V. M. Pacheco and C. H. Kim, Motorcycles safety brake and running
light for a jacket or vest, U.S. Patent 12 290182,October 28, 2008.
[12] A. Z. Shukor, M. H. Jamaluddin, and M. F. Basar, An Automated
Remote Messaging System Using GSM Technology, in Proc. The 2nd
International Conference on Engineering and ICT, Melaka, Malaysia
February 2010, pp. 216-219.

Fig. 9. Distance difference with and without SMS-V.

Fig. 10. Performance comparison in radar pattern.

VI. CONCLUSION
Mohd Farriz Basar was born in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia on November 9, 1979. He obtained his
Master and Degree in Electrical Engineering from
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor in 2001
and 2009 respectively. His major fields of study are
high voltage power system and renewable energy
technologies.
He has an experience as Research and Development
(R&D) Engineer in electrical power industries about 5
years from 2001 until 2005. He worked at EPE Power Corporation Bhd at N.
Authors Malaysia.
formal He have been to KEMA Testing Centre, Netherlands for
Sembilan,
photo
3 months
in order to conduct the type test of the transformer and switchgear.
Now he is working as a Lecturer in Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka
(UTeM), Malaysia from 2005 until now. As a main author, he has published
about 30 conference papers and journal in IEEE. In addition, he has

This research has developed a Smart Motorcycle Safety

Vest (SMS-V) that has several advantages which are very
important in order to increase the visibility of other road user
to the motorcyclist especially at night. The employment of
simple RF circuit in this project has made the safety vest
more dynamic and futuristic. Referring to the experimental
results, a motorcyclist would be safer if wearing a proposed
safety vest because the motorcyclists can be observed more
clearly almost two times better than normal vision. This
research has a very high impact where it can be as an
alternative way in reducing the number of motorcycle
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International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Vol. 3, No. 3, May 2013
published one book chapter in Energy Storage in the Emerging Era of Smart
Grids, InTechWEB, Crotia, 2011, ISBN 978-953-307-269-2, pp. 89-110.
Currently, his research is focussing in renewable energy techonologies
especially in pico hydro generation system.
Mr. Farriz is a member of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He
is also an ambassador for ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology
(AAET) Association since 2012. Mohd Farriz have been selected as winners
to represent Malaysia in the "ASEAN Country Winner" with his contribution
in the field of Green Technology Entrepreneurship (Green Entrepreneur). He
was also among the four best researchers in Southeast Asia selected to
receive the "Excellent Prize Winner" in the Southeast Asian level.

Nor Hazana Abdul Razik was born in Pahang,

Malaysia on January 15, 1979. She obtained his Degree
in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia, Skudai, Johor in 2001. His major fields of
study are in Physics Science and Petroleum Refinery
Technologies.
From 2002 until now, she is work as a Physics
Teacher at MARA Junior Science College,
Melaka, Malaysia. She is the co-author for one book chapter published in
Energy Storage in the Emerging Era of Smart Grids, InTechWEB, Crotia,
2011, ISBN 978-953-307-269-2, pp. 89-110. Currently, her research is
focussing in applying physics technologies especially in product innovation
development.
Mrs Nor Hazana is a member of Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM). In
2010, her college has won second place for the Physics Scientist Challenge in
the national (Malaysia) level competition. Due to the excellent achievement,
in 2011, she was appointed as Technical Provider in Physics Scientist
Challenge for MARA Junior Science College, Malaysia

222