How to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths from motorbikes accidents?
March 2005

The road traffic deaths and injuries receive relatively little national and international attention. However this human toll is growing and constitutes a global epidemic.

The use of motorbikes is on the rise and more importantly among young adults, adolescents and children. Motorbike crashes carry a greater risk of injuries, disabilities and death.

Riding motorbikes is dangerous. They are two-wheeled vehicles, the rider's body is fully exposed and there is little protection during a crash. The weather conditions, the behavior of other vehicle drivers on the road can substantially influence motorbike safety independently from the quality of the motorbike driver's competency.

Additionally motorbikes are fast vehicles and many young drivers have immature skeletal systems and strength. This combined with immaturity of coordination and judgment of many young drivers, make motorbike accidents more harmful and lethal. 

Parents have a huge responsibility in educating their children about safe driving and matters relevant to road safety. This education should start early in childhood. Parents should make their children understand that mistakes that they make in the roads as pedestrians, drivers or passengers may cause injuries or loss of life to them or other innocent people.

Data show that the number of severe injuries are on the rise among children and adolescents riding motorbikes. Most alarming is the fact that in this age group most of the time helmets are not used and this leads to significantly increased severity of injury.

Additionally there is an increase in the number of adolescents without a driver's license riding a motorbike alone or with a passenger. Obtaining a driving license for a motorbike should be accompanied by an extensive education about how to maintain correctly a motorbike. The tires condition as well as the mechanical, electrical considerations for the motorcycle are of extreme importance in this high risk group of two wheel vehicles.

The majority of adolescents and children injured in motorbike accidents are boys and quite often they do not wear helmets. The severity and increased frequency of these injuries highlight the need for accelerating and increasing the efforts to prevent this kind of injuries and deaths especially in high risk populations.

The popularity of motorcycling has grown steadily in many countries, the biggest increase being seen in motorcycles over 500cc capacity. Collision between a car and a motorcycle account for the majority of motorcyclist fatalities involving at least one other vehicle. Failure to observe the motorcycle or to judge its speed or path is also cited as a key contributory factor where drivers were judged to be primarily responsible for the fatality.

Strategies to raise visibility of motorcyclists themselves, and raising awareness of motorcyclists by other road users clearly deserves further study if targets for increased road safety are to be met.

Lower speed limits in residential areas, car designs that are safer for pedestrians and cyclists and random breath testing for alcohol need to be promoted actively and intensively.

Every year approximately one million people die on world's roads. The proportion and severity of motorbike injuries and deaths are particularly high and therefore efforts should be increased to prevent these tragedies.

Bibliography: