Citation

Chinn BP, Doyle D, Otte D, Schuller E. Proc. IRCOBI 1999; 27: 53-71.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Motorcycle accident data have been collected in Glasgow (Scotland), Hannover (Germany) and Munich (Germany) as part of a COST action, and the data have been used to create a database comprising 218 cases. The purpose of this study was to improve the knowledge of head and neck injury mechanisms. The criteria for inclusion was that a helmet was worn at the time of the accident and that a head impact, although not necessarily a head injury, had occurred. Sixty-seven percent sustained a head injury and 28.2% a neck injury. Also notable were the 53% with a thorax injury and 73% with leg injuries. It is not surprising that when the injuries were subdivided into Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) that as the MAIS increased so did the proportion with a head injury, from 38% for MAIS 1 to 85% for MAIS 3 and greater. Eighteen cases were replicated with drop tests of a helmeted headform, and in 13 cases where the motorcyclist sustained a head injury the rotational acceleration was approximately 9,000 rad/s2 or greater.