title: A case study analysis to examine motorcycle crashes in Bogota, Colombia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Contributory factors to motorcycle crashes vary among populations depending on several aspects such as the users' profiles, the composition and density of traffic, and the infrastructure features. A better understanding of local motorcycle crashes can be reached in those places where a comprehensive analysis is performed. This paper presents the results obtained from a case study analysis of 400 police records of accidents involving motorcycles in Bogota.
  
  
  METHODS
  To achieve a deeper level of understanding of how these accidents occur, we propose a systemic approach that uses available crash data. The methodology is inspired by accident prototypical scenarios, a tool for analysis developed in France.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When grouping cases we identified three categories: solo motorcycle accidents, motorcyclist and pedestrian accidents, and accidents involving a motorcycle and another vehicle. Within these categories we undertook in-depth analyses of 32 groups of accidents obtaining valuable information to better comprehend motorcyclists' road crashes in a local context. Recurrent contributory factors in the groups of accidents include: inexperienced motorcyclists, wide urban roads that incite speeding and risky overtaking maneuvers, flowing urban roads that encourage high speed and increased interaction between vehicles, and lack of infrastructure maintenance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results obtained are a valuable asset to define measures that will be conveniently adapted to the group of accident on which we want to act. The methodology exposed in this paper is applicable to the study of road crashes that involve all types of actors, not only the motorcyclists, and in contexts different than those presented in Bogota.
authors: Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1 N° 18A- 12, Edificio Mario Laserna ML, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bogota, Colombia. Electronic address: a.jimenez243@uniandes.edu.co.
authors: Adriana
authors: A
authors: Jimenez
authors: Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1 N° 18A- 12, Edificio Mario Laserna ML, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bogota, Colombia. Electronic address: jbocarej@uniandes.edu.co.
authors: Juan Pablo
authors: JP
authors: Bocarejo
authors: Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1 N° 18A- 12, Edificio Mario Laserna ML, Department of Industrial Engineering, Bogota, Colombia. Electronic address: rzarama@uniandes.edu.co.
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Zarama
authors: Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux IFSTTAR, Laboratoire Mécanismes d´accidents, Chemin de la Croix Blanche, 13300, Salon-de-Provence, France. Electronic address: joel.yerpez@ifsttar.fr.
authors: Joël
authors: J
authors: Yerpez
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009049:Motorcycles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014505:Urban Population; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Accident factor; Crash data; Motorcyclist; Road safety; Systems theory