Injury mechanisms in motorcycle accidents

Fuller, Peter M.; Snider, John N.

Affiliations

¹Department of Anatomy, University of Louisville, School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky U.S.A.

²Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee U.S.A.

Abstract

The medical and scientific literature is replete with numerous case studies dealing with individual motorcycle accidents and the resulting injuries. The most noteworthy and extensive report to date has been the Hurt study that reported on over 900 individual motorcycle accidents. However, virtually none of the previous studies have looked carefully at the mechanism of the injuries resulting from motorcycle accidents. The present study has carefully analyzed over 125 motorcycle accidents in which there was an injury with an AIS of greater than 2. Of these 125 accidents, 58 were selected and a static reconstruction was performed, using exemplar vehicles and individuals to determine the exact vehicle and occupant kinematics that occurred during the accident sequence. It was determined from the static reconstructions, that while the predominate injury from the accidents is to the lower extremity, the injury is not by definition a crushing injury, but rather an impact injury. The leg is impacted by the opposing vehicle and then pushed out of the way. The true crushing injury is very seldom seen in motorcycle accidents. The soft tissue injury that occurs and that necessitates amputation in some cases, is the result of subsequent impacts of the body with the roadway.

Cited Works (8)

Year	Entry
in press	Nahum AM, Siegel AW, Hight PV, Brooks SH. Lower extremity injuries of front seat occupants. SAE 680483.
1981	Hurt HH Jr, Ouellet JV, Thom DR. Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures: Volume I: Technical Report. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Dept of Transportation; January 1981. NHTSA Technical Report DOT HS 805 862.
1986	Hight PV, Newhall PE, Langwieder K, Mackay GM. An international review of motorcycle crashworthiness. In: Proceedings of the 1986 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 2-4, 1986; Zurich, Switzerland.261-276.
1980	The Abbreviated Injury Scale 1980 Revision. Morton Grove, IL: Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM); 1980.
1986	Chinn BP, Macaulay MA. Leg protection for motorcyclists. In: Proceedings of the 1986 International IRCOBI Conference on the Biomechanics of Impact. September 2-4, 1986; Zurich, Switzerland.277-287.
1986	States JD. Adult occupant injuries of the lower limb. In: Biomechanics and Medical Aspects of Lower Limb Injuries. Symposium on Biomechanics and Medical Aspects of Lower Limb Injuries; October 29-30, 1986; San Diego, CA. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive Engineering:97-107. SAE 861927.
1984	Hurt HH Jr, Ouellet JV, Jennings G. Motorcycle crash bar effectiveness: a re-evaluation using AIS-80. In: 28th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). October 8-10, 1984; Denver, CO.237-246.
1974	Newman JA, Webster GD. The mechanics of motorcycle accidents. In: 18th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 12-14, 1974; Toronto, ON.265-302.

Cited By (3)

Year	Entry
1989	Chinn BP, Hopes PD, Finnis MP. Leg protection and its effect on motorcycle rider trajectory. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). May 29–June 1, 1989; Göteborg, Sweden.1287-1297.
1991	Rogers NM. A technical evaluation of motorcycle leg protectors. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Conference on Experimental Safety Vehicles (ESV). November 4-7, 1991; Paris, France.345-360.
1992	Pedder JB. Characteristics of Serious and Fatal Motorcycle Accidents and the Potential for Injury Prevention [PhD thesis]. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham; August 1992.