Non-fatal injuries among motorcyclists treated as in-patients in a general hospital.

In a study of the injury pattern among 198 motorcyclists who sustained road traffic accidents from 1986-1987, it was found that the following body regions, in decreasing order of frequency, were involved: external region (surface or integumentary lesion of any body region) with 285 injuries, extremities and bony pelvis with 118 injuries, head and face with 94 injuries, chest with 10 injuries, abdomen with 3 injuries, and spine with 2 injuries. Despite the extensive use of crash helmets, head injuries were still a common and severe form of injury resulting from traffic accidents, indicating the need for improvement of safety standards of crash helmets. Lower limb injuries, mostly fractures of bones and dislocation of joints, are also amenable to prevention through design of leg protection devices. Injuries to other body regions are difficult to prevent and other measures such as legal and administrative means, should be fully exploited in accident prevention.