title: Injury pattern in lethal motorbikes-pedestrian collisions, in the area of Barcelona, Spain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are several studies about M1 type vehicle-pedestrian collision injury pattern, and based on them, there has been several changes in automobiles for pedestrian protection. However, the lack of sufficient studies about injury pattern in motorbikes-pedestrian collisions leads to a lack of optimization design of these vehicles. The objective of this research is to study the injury pattern of pedestrians involved in collisions with motorized two-wheeled vehicles.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective descriptive study of pedestrian's deaths after collisions with motorcycles in an urban area, like Barcelona was performed. The cases were collected from the Forensic Pathology Service database of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Catalonia. The selected cases were categorized as pedestrian-motorcycle collision, between January 1st, 2005 and December 31st, 2014. Data were collected from the autopsy, medical, and police report. The collected information was then analyzed using Microsoft Excel statistical functions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Traumatic Brain Injury is the main cause of death in pedestrian hit by motorized two-wheeled vehicles (62.85%). The most frequent injury was the subarachnoid hemorrhage, in 71.4% of cases, followed by cerebral contusions and skull base fractures (65.7%). By contrast, pelvic fractures and tibia fractures only appeared in 28.6%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study characterizes the injury pattern of pedestrians involved in a collision with motorized two-wheeled vehicles in an urban area, like Barcelona, which has been found to be different from other vehicle-pedestrian collisions, with a higher incidence of brain injuries and minor frequency of lower extremities fractures in pelvis, tibia and fibula.
authors: Forensic Pathology Service, Institute of Legal Medicine in Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: M Carmen
authors: MC
authors: Rebollo-Soria
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona-Tech, Spain; Center for Applied Biomechanics, University of Virginia, USA. Electronic address: carlos.arregui@upc.edu.
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Arregui-Dalmases
authors: Department Materials and Structural Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona-Tech, Spain.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Sánchez-Molina
authors: Department Materials and Structural Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona-Tech, Spain.
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Velázquez-Ameijide
authors: Forensic Pathology Service, Institute of Legal Medicine in Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Ignasi
authors: I
authors: Galtés
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009049:Motorcycles; D000069636:Pedestrians; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000401:mortality; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Autopsy; Injury pattern; Motorbikes; Motorcycles; Pedestrian collision; Traumatic brain injury