TY - JOUR
T1 - Rider factors associated with severe injury after a light motorcycle crash
T2 - A multicentre study in an emerging economy setting
AU - Lam, Carlos
AU - Pai, Chih Wei
AU - Chuang, Chia Chang
AU - Yen, Yu Chun
AU - Wu, Chia Chieh
AU - Yu, Shih Hsiang
AU - Hung, Kuo Sheng
AU - Chiu, Wen Ta
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by: 1. Grants from the Institute of Transportation, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Executive Yuan, Taiwan (Grant number MOTC-IOT-104-SEB009 and MOTC-IOT-105-SEB010). WTC and CL received the funding. The website: https:// www.iot.gov.tw. 2. Grants from Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University (Grant number 107-wf-phd-03). CL received the funding. The website: https://www.wanfang.gov.tw. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Lam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2019/6/1
Y1 - 2019/6/1
N2 - Objective In Taiwan, light motorcycles (LMCs) with cylinder capacities between 50 and 250 cc are widely used for daily commute. These vehicles are operated in a mixed traffic environment and prohibited on highways. In light of increasing motorcycle casualties, we conducted a multicentre study to analyse rider factors affecting injury severity. Methods Riders hospitalised upon LMC crashes were contacted. Information on demographics, comorbidities, and riding behaviours was collected through questionnaires and linked to hospital data. The injury severity score (ISS) and length of hospitalisation (LOH) were used as injury severity measures. Results In total, 725 patients (mean age: 37.7 years; 64% men) completed their questionnaires. Multivariate analysis results showed that age 65 years, half-face helmets, protective clothing, collisions with a bus/truck or car, and fatigue riding were risk factors for having an ISS of 9. Age 65 years; motorcycle crashes 2 times in the previous year; anaemia; rural crashes; half-face helmets; protective boots; collisions with a bus/truck, car, or a stationary object; alcohol/stimulating refreshment consumption; and fatigue riding were risk factors for increased LOH. A protective factor was individuals working in commerce. Collisions with opening car doors caused low risks of having an ISS of 9 and a short LOH. Conclusion Certain factors were significantly associated with riders’ injury severity and related medical resource consumption. Because of differences in the power output, use, and riding environment, risk factors for severe injuries in LMC crashes are dissimilar from those for heavy motorcycles (cylinder capacities > 250 cc) in developed countries and deserve more attention for injury prevention. Further in-depth evaluation of significant factors based on this study’s results can yield valuable information to reduce severe injuries after LMC crashes in countries and areas with a high dependency on motorcycles, even considering the popularity of electric motorcycles.
AB - Objective In Taiwan, light motorcycles (LMCs) with cylinder capacities between 50 and 250 cc are widely used for daily commute. These vehicles are operated in a mixed traffic environment and prohibited on highways. In light of increasing motorcycle casualties, we conducted a multicentre study to analyse rider factors affecting injury severity. Methods Riders hospitalised upon LMC crashes were contacted. Information on demographics, comorbidities, and riding behaviours was collected through questionnaires and linked to hospital data. The injury severity score (ISS) and length of hospitalisation (LOH) were used as injury severity measures. Results In total, 725 patients (mean age: 37.7 years; 64% men) completed their questionnaires. Multivariate analysis results showed that age 65 years, half-face helmets, protective clothing, collisions with a bus/truck or car, and fatigue riding were risk factors for having an ISS of 9. Age 65 years; motorcycle crashes 2 times in the previous year; anaemia; rural crashes; half-face helmets; protective boots; collisions with a bus/truck, car, or a stationary object; alcohol/stimulating refreshment consumption; and fatigue riding were risk factors for increased LOH. A protective factor was individuals working in commerce. Collisions with opening car doors caused low risks of having an ISS of 9 and a short LOH. Conclusion Certain factors were significantly associated with riders’ injury severity and related medical resource consumption. Because of differences in the power output, use, and riding environment, risk factors for severe injuries in LMC crashes are dissimilar from those for heavy motorcycles (cylinder capacities > 250 cc) in developed countries and deserve more attention for injury prevention. Further in-depth evaluation of significant factors based on this study’s results can yield valuable information to reduce severe injuries after LMC crashes in countries and areas with a high dependency on motorcycles, even considering the popularity of electric motorcycles.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0219132
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0219132
M3 - Article
C2 - 31251789
AN - SCOPUS:85068978080
VL - 14
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 6
M1 - e0219132
ER -