In motorcycle accidents simple injuries occur extremely rarely. On the contrary the motorcyclist is always injured in several parts of his body. This indicates difficulties when parts of the accident sequence are examined in isolation. The presented paper will try to describe those parameters from real-life accidents which are mainly responsible for causing the injuries. 487 traffic accidents involving motorised two-wheelers have been selected from a data base owing to the fact that they all represent accidents where the lower extremities of the motorcylist's body were injured. An assessment of what influence the injury mechanics have on the injury picture have been made. It is concluded that leg injuries characterize the injury picture quite decisively. Leg protection in combination with an airbag is discussed as a means of avoiding the direct impact of the head against the area of the edge of the roof. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference, see IRRD 837684.
Samenvatting