Motorcycle crashes resulting in death and hospitalisation. II: Traffic crashes

This is the second paper in a series of three that describe the epidemiology of motorcycle crashes in New Zealand that result in death and hospitalisation. The first paper presented an overview of all motorcycle crashes. This paper focuses on traffic crashes. The source of the fatality data was national mortality data files for the years 1978 to 1987 inclusive. The source of the hospitalisation data was the 1988 national morbidity file which records all public hospital discharges in New Zealand. For the period 1978 to 1987, 1,175 fatalities were identified resulting in a mortality rate of 3.5 per 100,000 persons per year. Males aged 15-19 and 20-24 had very high rates (25.2 and 26.4, respectively), especially labourers (40.0) and forestry workers (32). Maori and non-Maori had similar rates. The majority (63%) of the deaths were attributable to a collision with another motor vehicle. During 1988 2,222 motorcyclists were hospitalised giving an incidence rate of 68.1 per 100,000 persons per year. Males aged 15-19 and 20-24 had very high rates (409 and 416, respectively), especially labourers (355). Maori had a higher morbidity rate than non-Maori (99 versus 61). The most common (40%) crash was a collision with another motor vehicle. The most common sites of injury were the lower limb (43%) and head (23%). Collision crashes were more likely to result in lower limb injury, be more severe, and result in longer stays in hospital.