Introduction

The side stand of motorcycle must be kept in proper position while driving. The side stand is kept in a vertical position during driving and is kept in a horizontal position during stand still condition. If the stand is kept in the horizontal position, it can touch the ground while turning the motorcycle in the left. This can lead to serious accident. It is common among the bikers that they often forget to position the stand in the horizontal position.
In our work we have worked on this issue and have designed a protective device using Arduino, Reed sensor and Relay module. The device allows the biker to start the motorcycle only if the motorcycle side stand is in the correct position. Researchers around the world have worked for safety of motorcycles. In [1] , a smart motorcycle safety system is designed which has a GPS integrated with it. So, besides motorcycle safety issues, the location of the motorcycle can be tracked.
Using helmet while driving can reduce the effect of an accident [2] and can save lives. That’s why researchers have focused on the design of smart and efficient helmets [3-5]. These helmets have many safety features that make motorcycle riding more safe.
In [6], using Bluetooth and smart phones, a vehicle to driver and vehicle to environment communication system is developed to avoid accidents. The vehicles will be able to communicate among themselves while they are in closer distance using Bluetooth. Often it is tough to determine the distance and size of the vehicle behind a rider. In [7], image processing is used for the detection of rear vehicles and to avoid collision.
Motorcycle accidents are caused by many reasons. One of them might cause by wrong positioning of the side stand of the motorcycle. The side stand in a motorbike is used to stand the bike while it is not in motion. The side stand is in a vertical position at that time. It needs to be retracted in the horizontal position while in motion to avoid collision with the ground while turning. Sometimes a biker may forget to retract the stand to horizonal position while riding and that cause accident. To protect this various ways have been implemented. In [8], a design for the side stand is proposed which automatically retracts the side stand of the motorcycle while it is in motion. In [9], an electromechanical device is designed that warns the driver if the side stand is not in correct position. In [10] a safety switch is designed that will not allow the biker to start the motorcycle unless the side stand is retracted to its safe position. In [11], a device has been designed that ensures that the motorbike does not start if the stand is in the wrong position. The device also warns the rider by turning on a lamp that the stand is in a wrong position. Matteo Corno and Sergio Savaresi implemented a kick detection algorithm and closed-loop control technique for a pirate motorised cycle to make sure the safety of the motorbike due to the unaware right-side working stand in [12].
All of the mentioned ways of protection schemes have their own advantages and disadvantages. In this paper a digital and simplified solution has been presented to protect a motorcycle from an accident caused by the improper positioning of the side stand. It does not allow the bike to start motorcycle if the side stand is in the wrong position. It senses the position of side stand by using a reed sensor- magnet combination and controls the ignition circuit by a relay. The whole process is operated by the Arduino as embedded controller. This system also warns the biker by an alarm sound if the stand is not in the correct position.
The contributions of the paper are as follows:
  1. Developed and applied a digital system of automatic side stand retractor which reduces the possibility of accidents caused by wrong position of side stand of motorcycle.
  2. The proposed system does not allow the starting of the motorcycle in case of the wrong position of side stand ensuring more safety of the motorcycle rider.
  3. The proposed system is a power efficient.
The residue of the paper contains the system architecture of the proposed system in section II. The experimental setup is discussed at section III. Section IV discusses the result of the system.