Two others, a rider and pillion, were taken to Noble's hospital with none life threatening injuries.
It is notable here that females represented 30% of pillions in contrast to 2.8% of riders, and only one pillion was wearing a helmet.
These latter two findings, in particular, are concerning given that the overall helmet wearing rate among MTV riders and pillions was low (19.6%) in this study population.
In the current study, adolescent motorcycle drivers, but not pillions, were found to be less likely to wear a helmet than adult motorcycle drivers.
There was, however, a significant sex difference between riders and pillions, with 245 (97.2%) of riders being male as compared to 88 (69.8%) of pillions being male (χ(1) = 60.0, p ≤ 0.05).
There were few differences in types of injuries sustained by riders and pillions though riders had a significantly lower risk of crush injuries of the lower extremity than pillions (relative risk, RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08 0.81) and female pillions were at a significantly lower risk of sustaining fractures of the lower extremity than male pillions (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.09 – 0.09).
While there were few notable differences in injury risk between riders and pillions, we report that female pillions are at a somewhat greater risk of fractures of the head and neck than their male counterparts, and at a similarly higher risk of open wound upper extremity injuries.
Overall, the mean length of stay in the hospital (6.3 days, SD: 8.5 days; median: 3 days) was similar for riders and pillions (t(194.3) = 1.05, ≥ 0.05) as was the overall distribution (χ(4) = 7.2, ≥ 0.05), with approximately 23% of riders and 29% of pillions being admitted for 8 days or longer.
Overall, 59% of MTV riders and pillions were injured in multiple vehicle crashes, with 40% occurring in the evening and a further 21% between midnight and 6 am, a pattern typical of MTV crashes.[ 19- 22] Collision partners for those involved in multiple vehicle crashes tended to be large vehicles such as buses and trucks.
