Identification of injury patterns of hospitalized motorcyclists and development of countermeasures for their safety improvement

Abstract

In the event of an accident, a motorcycle rider is directly and fully exposed to violent impact or collision. Therefore, motorcyclists are more at risk of being killed or injured in a road traffic accident than any other type of vehicle user. In Bangladesh Motorcycle is one of the most vulnerable motor vehicle and has a higher fatality rate per unit of distance traveled when compared with automobiles. The statistics indicates that motorcycle accident and fatality risk is very concerning in Bangladesh than other countries with very high motorcycle occupancy rate. Analysis shows that during 5 years from 2008-2012, the percentage of motorcycle related accident and casualties maintains an increasing trend and on average its share in all accident and casualties is 14% and 8% respectively. Under these circumstances the current study has been attempted to conduct detailed analysis with a view to identify distinct features of motorcycle related accident and injury in Bangladesh, Dhaka city in particular. The study aims to identify injury patterns among hospitalized motorcyclists, analyze motorcyclist’s driving behavior and to explore characteristics of accident. The previous studies mainly focuses motorcycle traffic trend analysis, motorcycle traffic volume and travel behavior. No study on casualty’s injury in motorcycle accident has been found to be carried out previously in our country. This research may be the first attempt in this regard. For identifying distinctive features of motorcycle related accident and injury, motorcycle accident data have been analyzed in MAAP5 software. The accident data needed for analysis has been collected from Accident Research Institute (ARI), BUET. To identify the injury pattern, characterize driving behavior and analyze the situation during accident a questionnaire survey has been conducted among at least 100 patients who are admitted to hospital as a result of motorcycle accident. They have been asked a series of questions about their riding habits and the type of accident in which they were involved and a series of questions about their motorcycles. The result shows that about half of total injury is in the right leg and more than one-fifth is in left leg. The probable cause of such leg injury may be due to the fact that motorcyclists are mainly involved in side-swipe and head-on accidents in which the legs are rubbed between vehicles or motorcycles and road. One preventive measure to protect the legs and feet might be to use Leg Guard.