A european study has been produced from data taken from five countries, Italy, Holland, Germany, France and Spain. The writers of the document analysed 921 accidents over 3 years, resulting approximately 2000 variables being coded for each accident. The investigation included a full reconstruction of the accident; vehicles were inspected; witnesses to the accident were interviewed; and, subject to the applicable privacy laws, with the full cooperation and consent of both the injured person and the local authorities, pertinent medical records for the injured riders and passengers were collected. From these data, all the human, environmental and vehicle factors, which contributed to the outcome of the accident were identified. The result is this infographic. The results chart damage sustained in a motorcycle crash but not all cases were walking wounded, 11% of the accident cases were fatal. It shows that you’re most likely to injure your lower extremities in a motorcycle accident than any other part of your body. According to the survey you have got a 5% chance of damaging your spine in an accident. The breakdown for injuries to the rider are as follows: lower extremities: 31.8%, upper extremities: 24.3%, head: 18.4%, thorax: 7.4%, whole body: 5.7%, abdomen: 4.1%, pelvis: 2.2%, neck: 1.1%.
Summary of the distribution of the injuries
The writers of the in-depth study outlined, in 37% of cases, the primary accident contributing factor was human error. The number of cases involving alcohol use among the riders was less than 5%, which is low in comparison to other studies, but such riders were more likely to be involved in an accident. In 60.0% of accidents, the collision partner was a passenger car and in over 70% of the cases the impact speeds were below 50 km/h. 90.4% of the riders wore helmets. However, 9.1% of these helmets came off the wearer’s head at some time during the accident, due to improper fastening or helmet damage during the accident. Overall, helmets were found to be an effective protective device to reduce the severity of head injuries.
Time of day accident occured
(Source: MAIDS)
