Analysis of Fatal Injuries to Motorcyclists by Helmet Type

Abstract

To clarify the characteristics of injuries of motorcyclists dying in accidents in relation to helmet type, we retrospectively analyzed forensic autopsies of 36 helmeted motorcycle riders. The presence of major injuries and injury severity were evaluated with the injury severity score and the 1990 revision of the Abbreviated Injury Scale. Persons with open-face helmets (19 cases) were significantly more likely to have sustained severe head and neck injuries, especially brain contusions, than were persons with full-face helmets (17 cases). Furthermore, major injuries of the chest or abdomen, rib fractures, lung injuries, and liver injuries were each present in more than one quarter of all cases (26.3% to 70.6%), but their prevalences did not differ significantly between riders with different types of helmet. Because many types of head and neck injuries cannot be prevented and fatal chest and abdominal injuries occur despite the use of full-face helmets, more effective helmets and devices for protecting the chest and abdomen are needed to decrease deaths from motorcycle accidents.

Death by complete decapitation of motorcyclist wearing full face helmet: Case report

“…In these cases the spinal column, which is not completely protected by the helmet, can be vulnerable to angular acceleration. This can cause severe cervical injuries such as incomplete resection of the head, which cannot be prevented by the use of this safety device [24]. In reports of these cases, the mechanism producing the fatal injury is indicated as hyper-extension of the neck induced by violent facial impact [25], with transmission of the force to the cervical spine between C3 and C5.…”

Novelty helmet use and motorcycle rider fatality

“…And Hitosugi et al (2004), in a Tokyo study of fatally injured motorcyclists, found that those using open-face helmets were more likely to have suffered severe head and neck injuries than were those using full-face helmets.…”

“…We collected the standardized forms for each state and found that only one state, Pennsylvania, routinely collections information on motorcycle helmet type as well as the usual yes/no status. We recognize that some studies, such as those based in emergency departments, have acquired detailed helmet information, but tend to have limited sample sizes (Brewer et al, 2013; Hitosugi et al, 2004; Yu et al, 2011). Because legal helmet types and novelty helmets are usually collapsed into one, less specific, “helmeted” category, the protective effects of novelty helmets are not well understood.…”

Features of Traffic Accidents Occurred in Aydin Province between 2005 and 2011

“…It has been reported that automobile and minibusbus accidents are frequent as these vehicles are widely found in traffic, motorcycle-bicycle accidents are frequent due to rare use of helmets by motorcyclists and cyclists, and tractor accidents are frequent due to uncontrolled use of tractors in the rural areas for both agricultural labor and passenger transport. [13,14,[29][30][31][32][33] Evaluation of the position of the dead cases in the present study showed that 110 (32.9%) cases were pedestrians hit by a vehicle, 175 cases were drivers and sixteen cases were front seat passengers (Table 5). In other studies conducted in Turkey, the rate of pedestrians has been reported to be 55.5% by Gören et al [13] and 41.0% by Karbeyaz et al [14] In other studies around the world, this rate has been reported to be 46.2% by Sharma et al, [21] 77.1% by El-Sadig et al, [22] and 59% by Cameron et al, [23] and 57% by Hijar et al [34] The rate of pedestrian death is gradually decreasing in developed countries.…”