Common Injuries from Motorcycle Accidents
Common injuries from motorcycle accidents can vary from region to region, but nationally, the most common injury that results in fatality following a motorcycle accident in head injury. For this reason, many U.S states have made DOT (Department of Transportation) approved helmets mandatory for all motorcycle riders, and many passengers. Statistics show that wearing a helmet significantly reduces your chances of death or serious injury if you are involved in a motorcycle accident. Approximately 80% of all motorcycle accidents that involve head trauma result in death for the operator or passenger.
Some other common injuries from motorcycle accidents are:
- Chest Trauma. Broken ribs, punctured lungs, and bruised internal organs can all occur when a rider’s chest is struck during an accident. This commonly occurs when a rider is forced into or over the handlebars of the bike.
- Leg Fractures. Leg fractures, including fractures of the femur, ankle, and knee. Femur fractures are very common, and these injuries can be life threatening if major blood vessels are ruptured in the accident.
- Abrasions. Commonly known as road rash, abrasions are a very common motorcycle injury and often occur when the bike tips over and drags the rider along the road, or when a rider is thrown from the bike.
- Arm Fractures. Approximately 13% of all motorcycle accident victims suffer arm fractures in one or both arms.
- Spinal Cord Injuries. Less than 10% of all motorcycle accidents result in a spinal cord injury. However, because of the likelihood of such a traumatic event occurring, all motorcycle accident victims are treated by EMS personnel as if they have a spinal cord injury until testing proves otherwise.
- Neck and Back Injuries. Neck and back injuries are common occurrences following a motorcycle accident because many of these accidents are very traumatic to the rider. Many riders are thrown from the bike, trapped under the motorcycle or another vehicle, or strike stationary objects such as tress or telephone poles.
- Abdominal injury. Abdominal and thoracic cavity injuries contribute significantly to fatality and medical complications following a motorcycle accident. The rupture of abdominal organs and internal bleeding pose a significant risk to the health of any accident victim.
- Pelvic Fracture. Pelvic fractures commonly occur in motorcycle accidents when the rider or passenger is run over by another vehicle. Another common pelvic area injury is the rupture of the bladder, which occurs when the rider is struck in the pelvis by the handlebars or another object and the bladder is full verses empty of urine.
Many common motorcycle injuries, such as head trauma and abrasions, can be lessened or avoided by the use of protective clothing and a DOT approved helmet. For more motorcycle safety tips, visit the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s website at: http://www.msf-usa.org/.
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