This paper is a review of recent research of motorcycle operators' kinematics and their injury mechanisms during collision. The Trauma Research Group's motorcycle study has been updated to reflect current data acquisition. The crashes have been collected within California and the Southwest. The study is a clinical in-depth analysis conducted to determine and evaluate patterns of injury, mechanism of injury and sources of injury. Procedurally vehicle collision dynamics and kinematics were determined before the occupant kinematics and injury patterns were analyzed.
Injuries result from three primary sources, the object struck; the final horizontal surface struck; and the motorcycle itself. Mechanism of injury was found to be dependant on whether the occupant kinematics were non-ejection, ejection, or deflection. Injury patterns differed as a function of crash dynamics, impact location, the struck vehicle, rider impact kinematics and post crash ejection trajectories.