The differences in national fatality rates for pedestrians, motorcycle riders and car occupants are given for a selection of countries. Pedestrians are shown to be essentially an urban problem in both Great Britain and the United States. Motorcycle accidents by contrast occur in considerable numbers in rural as well as urban areas.

The collision circumstances and the kinematics of impact for the other road users are discussed. Examples are given from at-the-scene studies of accidents in Great Britain. Sources of injury are shown to be vehicle and road surface impacts, and the severity of the injuries from the primary vehicle impact is emphasized.

Injuries to riders of two-wheeled machines are in many ways similar to pedestrian injuries;​ riders obtain negligible protection from their machines, but the collision circumstances vary in that speeds of motorcycle collisions are often higher and the crash configurations are more varied than in the case of pedestrian impacts.