Motorcycle casualties sustained during Daytona Beach Bike Week 2000: lessons learned

In March 2000, an estimated 500,000 people attended an annual motorcycle rally in Daytona Beach, FL, where approximately 64,000 residents live year-round. The media reported 15 deaths during this 10-day event. To more comprehensively assess the extent of trauma and need for emergency medical care, we investigated all motorcycle crashes, regardless of outcome.

Motorcycle-related crash data from local medical examiner, hospital, emergency medical services (EMS), and police sources were linked. Frequencies of crashes, injuries, hospitalizations, and deaths were determined, and EMS use data were analyzed.

During Bike Week 2000, 570 people were involved in 281 motorcycle-related crashes. Two hundred thirty (40%) people were injured, of which 147 (64%) sought treatment in emergency departments, 72 (31%) were hospitalized, and 11 (5%) died. In crashes between motorcycles and passenger cars, individuals exposed as motorcycle occupants were 8.7 times more likely to be injured than car occupants (95% confidence limit 1.7, 15.7). Of 205 EMS dispatches for motorcycle-related crashes, two thirds resulted in transport to an ED. Data needed to assess known risk factors (eg, alcohol use, speed, lack of helmet use) were not routinely ascertained at either the crash site or ED.

Although fatalities first called attention to the problem, nonfatal injuries outnumbered deaths 20:1. The manpower resources of civil service and health resources could become overwhelmed or exhausted in circumstances in which many people are injured or killed throughout a relatively long period. The situation deserves future study. Better risk factor surveillance is needed to help prevent crashes.