Types of Motorcycle Accident Related Injuries

Almost all motorcycle collisions throw riders off their bikes, exposing them to blunt force trauma injuries from hitting something hard as they come down. So it’s not surprising that motorcycle accident injuries are very often severe ones. While riders almost always sustain minor cuts and bruises in an accident, many also suffer far more severe injuries from being thrown violently against another vehicle, sliding in the road or hitting the ground or another hard object at very high speeds.

Death is still a tragically common result of a motorcycle accident injury. Where only 20 percent of car and light truck accidents in America result in death, about 80 percent of motorcycle accidents do. And studies show that the majority of those deaths are caused by head injuries. According to a study of crashes in 2001 by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, those whose worst injury was a head injury were much more likely to die, at 10.6 percent of fatalities, than those with other principal diagnoses, at just 0.8 percent. To this, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration adds a telling statistic: Helmet use among fatally injured riders is below 50 percent. This trend coincides with helmet law repeals, the AHRQ noted, with helmet use going from 71 percent of riders in 2000 to 58 percent in 2002. Less common causes of motorcycle accident fatalities include spinal injuries and internal injuries.

Despite this grim picture, head and traumatic brain injuries no longer top the list of nonfatal but serious injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash, in part because of helmets. A 2005 study by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality showed that only about 12 percent of non-fatal motorcycle injuries are head injuries. The most common injury in the study, at 29 percent of the injuries, was one or more leg fractures. Following right behind were arm fractures, at 13 percent. Head injuries were next, at 12 percent. Fewer than 10 percent of the patients in the study had spinal injuries or injuries to the internal organs. Two percent of them died of their injuries in the hospital, adding to the deaths on the scene. And 12.7 percent of the patients in the study were sent to another health care facility after release from the hospital, indicating that they needed long-term care for serious, life-changing injuries or permanent disabilities.

A similar study of motorcycle injuries in Tehran, where there is no helmet law and the vast majority of riders do not use helmets, found a similar pattern of injuries. The most common cause of death was head injuries, at 67.9 percent of deaths; these were followed by abdominal injuries (17.9 percent), and throacic (chest) injuries (7.1 percent). Among those who lived, injuries to the extremities were most common, followed by head, chest and spine injuries. The study, which included only those who did not die at the scene of the crash, also found that:

62.6 percent of patients had only mild injuries, 29.7 percent had moderate injuries and only 7.7 percent had severe injuries.

96 percent of the patients scored very high (above 12) on a scale of head injury severity called the Glasgow coma scale, indicating severe head injury.

Among head injuries, the most common was a skull fracture, at 32.4 percent, followed by a facial fracture, at 21.4 percent; an injury to a specific area of the brain, at 14.4 percent, and an accumulation of blood between scalp and skull (epidural hematoma), at 14.1 percent.

The most common injury to the extremities was a broken leg, arm, hand or foot, at 86.2 percent.

The most vulnerable area of the extremities was the lower leg, which saw 47.8 percent of extremity injuries. The area was most likely to sustain blood vessel damage, followed by a fracture.

The most common chest trauma was broken ribs, followed by a collapsed lung (pneumothroax).

And a study in New Zealand, where helmets are legally required and used by 93 percent of riders in traffic, showed a higher rate of survival, but also a higher rate of serious head injuries. As in Tehran, head injuries were the second most common type of injury requiring hospitalization (at 23 percent). But of those head injuries, 65 percent were considered severe. And 73 percent of those in the New Zealand study who died in the hospital died of a head injury.

Many riders injured in an accident wake up thinking not of their own physical injuries, but of the damage to their beloved bikes. Indeed, legally speaking, damage to a motorcycle and equipment in an accident is a type of injury, and it’s a common concern in motorcycle accident lawsuits. Even if the bike was not totaled in the accident, repair bills can still stretch to thousands of dollars. If expensive custom work had been done on the bike, that only adds to the severity of the financial injury the motorcyclist sustained.

And riders almost always sustain certain other financial injuries after a motorcycle accident. These include hospital bills, which can be high; the American study showed that just in 2001, motorcycle accidents generated $841 million in hospital bills, with a median charge of more than $15,000. Riders who are hospitalized often also lose income by missing work; some may even lose their jobs because their employers can’t keep the job open while they recover. There are sometimes other, secondary costs associated with a motorcycle accident, including renting a replacement vehicle, unfair hikes in your insurance premium and other costs you would not otherwise have incurred. And if you are permanently disabled, severely traumatized or otherwise suffer a long-term injury from an accident that’s not your fault, you have the right to ask a court for compensation for your lost quality of life.

Bisnar | Chase was founded in 1978 after one of the original attorneys received poor representation after an accident, and swore he’d do a better job with his own cases. Since then, we have represented thousands of Californians in lawsuits over motorcycle and auto accidents. We understand your case because we’ve been aggressively pursuing -- and winning -- cases like it for decades. We know accident victims are injured, upset, suffocating under bills and stressed out about the future. That’s why we always offer free evaluations of your unique case and never take a fee until we win the case for you. But we also know the statute of limitations for a motorcycle injury lawsuit can be short; that’s why we always tell clients act quickly to protect their right to sue. Call us today at 1-866-889-2775 or click here to fill out our online consultation form.