Face the facts: a characterisation of 2013–2025 UK motorcycle collisions, head impact locations and injury outcomes supporting facial impact testing
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
There is limited contemporary evidence on head impact conditions and injuries in motorcyclists, despite substantial recent changes in vehicles, helmet design and test standards. This constrains evidence-driven improvements to helmet protection and impact test protocols, particularly for underrepresented facial impacts. We quantified head impact locations and associated head and facial injury distributions in 12 years of motorcycle collisions from Great Britain’s Road Accident In-Depth Studies (RAIDS) database (1 April 2013–31 March 2025). Injuries were classified using Abbreviated Injury Scale codes augmented with free-text identification of clinically utilised Mayo-classified brain injury, and primary helmet impact location was derived from investiga-tor summaries and helmet photographs. Most of the 353 motorcyclists were injured (93%) and male (90%), and 2% were unhelmeted. One third sustained at least one head injury and 24.9% sustained Mayo-classified traumatic brain injury (19.0% moderate–severe). Facial injuries occurred in 12.2%, including 4.4% with facial fracture. Skull fractures (including basilar) and intracranial haemorrhage were also common. Head and facial injuries were more prevalent in fatally injured motorcyclists than survivors. Primary helmet impact location was determined for 125 motorcyclists with 50.4% of impacts to the facial region. Head injury rates and patterns were similar across different primary impact locations. When primary facial impacts caused head injury, upper face and chinbar impacts dominated visor impacts. Facial impacts are both frequent and associated with clinically important head injuries. Helmet standards and consumer ratings should incorporate facial impact assessments and adopt injury risk criteria reflecting skull fractures (particularly basilar skull fractures), focal brain injury and intracranial haemorrhage.
Date Issued
2026-01-01
Date Acceptance
2026-06-17
Citation
Traffic Safety Research, 2026, 10
ISSN
2004-3082
Publisher
Technology and Society, Faculty of Engineering, LTH, Lund University
Journal / Book Title
Traffic Safety Research
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© 2026 Claire E. Baker; Zhuoxiaoyue Wang, Lucas Low, Emily Ashworth, Mark H. Wilson, David J. Sharp, Nils Lubbe, Shiyang Meng, Mazdak Ghajari. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
License URL
Identifier
10.55329/kohk5876
Subjects
basilar skull fracture
facial impact
head injury
helmet impact location
helmet test standards
motorcycle collisions
Road Accident In-Depth Studies (RAIDS)
traumatic brain injury biomechanics
vulnerable road user safety
Northern Europe
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e000142
Date Publish Online
2026-08-12