Protection for motorcyclists

COMPARED WITH cars, motorcycles, being two-wheelers, are unstable and provide little protection for their riders in crashes. Fatality statistics support this view.

The intersection crashes can be more serious than crashes occurring on street sections. A lack of space for evading manoeuvres and the skill, level of the motorcycle drivers are some characteristics which may influence these crashes.

The risk per mile goes up in roughly the same proportion as the engine capacity, so that a 1000cc machine is involved in a fatal accident 10 times more frequently than a 100cc machine. In general, this implies that the most frequently On October 12, 2015, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), in association with the National Health Fund (NHF), donated four motorcycles valued at $1 million to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). CG Eagle Motorcycles Limited also donated three motorcycles. Following the handover, Dr Carl Williams (right), Police Commissioner, shared a moment with (from left) Superintendent Courtney Coubrie, operations officer, and SSP Calvin Allen from the Traffic Headquarters; Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman, NRSC; Everton Anderson, CEO, National Health Fund; and Paula Fletcher, executive director, NRSC.

injured parts of the body are the extremities and the head. The probable explanation for the high frequency of lower-limb injury is that the leg is often

squeezed between the rider’s own vehicle and the striking vehicle or the ground. These injuries can be quite severe but are often not life-threatening.

The leading causes of death among motorcyclists are injuries to the head and chest. Other soft-tissue injuries seen in riders of motor cycles are caused by protruding objects on a motorcycle, on the other vehicle or on the ground.

In urban areas, the most serious crashes are those that cause a significant change in the trajectory of the rider. This movement of the driver due to force happens when the motorcycle collides with another vehicle or a stationary object large enough to change the path of travel of the driver. If the object is low enough for the rider to pass over it, the trajectory will not change significantly but the rider will usually continue in the original direction until he hits the ground, or some other object, at some distance from the site of the collision. This distance is determined mainly by his original speed. While airborne, the rider may tumble and, therefore, it is not possible to predict his

Compared with occupants of other vehicles, drivers of motorcycles are virtually unprotected in the event of a crash.

Without doubt, the most important item of equipment for reducing the severity of two-wheeler crashes is the crash helmet.

In the early helmets, only the top of the head was covered by a rigid shell. Later, the shell was extended over the sides of the head and shockabsorbing lining was introduced. Recently, the full-face integral helmet has become very popular. It extends the protection to cover more of the head and face of the wearer and also it has an improved shockabsorbing capacity.

It appears that the use of a helmet reduces the risk of sustaining a head injury by