RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RIDER TRAJECTORY AND INJURY OUTCOME IN MOTORCYCLE-TO-BARRIER CRASHES

摘要

Motorcyclists have a much higher fatality risk in collisions with traffic barriers than do other road users.Many databases focus on the vehicle when reporting the sequence of events; however, in motorcyclecollisions, the vehicle and rider often separate and follow different trajectories. This study aims todetermine how the rider trajectory influences the injury outcome. Rider trajectories in barrier collisionswere determined through an analysis of police accident reports (PARs) from New Jersey (2007-2011).There were seven different trajectories identified: upright, sliding, vaulting, ejected (same side landing),ejected (side unknown), ejected into barrier, and separated prior to barrier impact. Google Earth StreetView was used to verify the barrier type in each collision. Of the 442 single-vehicle, motorcycle-barriercollisions reported in New Jersey, the PAR was analyzed for 430 crashes and the barrier was identifiedfor 342 of these crashes (77.4% of all crashes). There were 361 riders and passengers involved in thecrashes analyzed. In these crashes, riders most often struck the barrier upright without being ejected fromthe motorcycle. Barrier type and occurrence on an entrance/exit ramp were found to have a significanteffect on the distribution of rider trajectory outcomes. Additionally, being ejected from the motorcycleafter striking the barrier increased the odds of serious injury by 2.91 (95% CI: 1.31-6.46) times.