Modern safety features like crush zones, blind-spot detectors, and side-curtain airbags make passenger vehicles safer than ever. At its best, these innovations can entirely prevent collisions; at their worst, they may reduce the chance that the driver or other passengers could suffer serious wounds. In contrast, motorcycles lack these safety components, leading to the possibility that passengers may sustain catastrophic injury in collisions.
Injuries sustained by motorcyclists in accidents
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Leg and foot injuries
According to research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), injuries to the feet and legs constitute approximately 30 percent of all non-fatal injuries sustained by motorcyclists between 2001 and 2008. There are several reasons why this is happening. A possible reason is that, unlike helmets for the head, motorcyclists are less likely to use present options since safety gear for both feet and legs is far less popular.
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Head injuries
Head injuries are fairly common in motorcycle accidents, as is to be expected, and depending on the details of the collision, they may even be serious enough to be deadly. This is mainly because motorcycle riders rarely wear helmets, and helmet regulations vary from state to state. Choosing not to wear a helmet may often mean the difference between life and death when it is the only layer that protects a rider’s brain and the pavement. According to the CDC, injuries to the rider’s head and neck made up around 22% of all motorcycle collision injuries between 2001 and 2008.
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Burns
Burns are a third type of injury that motorcycle riders suffer more often than occupants in passenger vehicles. Unlike passengers in passenger cars, there is minimal protection between a motorcyclist’s body and the weather. Motorcyclists are particularly susceptible to experiencing burns due to this exposure, including burns from the motorcycle’s exhaust pipe, fires from incidents, chemical leaks from battery packs, and even ‘road rash’—a type of burn-like injury that happens when the skin becomes exposed to the road at high speeds. Burn injuries can substantially impact a victim’s life depending on their severity.
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Abdomen injuries
The spleen and liver, along with other organs in the abdomen, could suffer severe damage due to the impact of a motorbike crash. One of the worst things about these injuries is that the motorcycle rider might not know it until it is too late. In contrast to external wounds, inside ones are far more difficult to identify.
