OBJECTIVE Pelvic injuries are a serious and commonly occurring injury to motorcycle riders involved in crashes, yet there has been limited research investigating the mechanisms involved in these injuries. This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms involved in pelvic injuries to crashed motorcyclists.
METHOD This study involved in-depth crash investigation and two convenience-based datasets were used. These datasets investigated motorcycle crashes in the Sydney, Newcastle and Adelaide regions. Participants included motorcycle riders who had either crashed on a public road or private property within the study areas. The mechanism of injury and the type of injuries were investigated. Result The most frequent cause of pelvic injuries in crashed motorcyclists was due to contact with the motorcycle fuel tank during the crash (85%). For riders who had come into contact with the fuel tank, the injury types were able to be grouped into three categories based on the complexity of the injury. The complexity of the injury appeared to increase with impact speed but this was a non-significant trend. The pelvic injuries which did not occur from contact with the fuel tank in this sample differed in asymmetry of loading and did not commonly involve injury to the bladder. They were commonly one-sided injuries but this differed based on the point of loading; however, a larger sample of these injuries needs to be investigated.
CONCLUSION Overall improvements in road safety have not been replicated in the amelioration of pelvic injuries in motorcyclists and improvements in the design of crashworthy motorcycle fuel tanks appear to be required.