Pattern of motorcyclist's mortality in Mazandran province, northern Iran

ABSTRACT

Road traffic accidents [RTA] is recognized internationally as the major threat to human health and, motorcycle collision victims form a high proportion of those killed or injured in RTA.This study was performed to evaluate the patterns of motorcyclist's mortalities. All motorcyclists' corpses that were presented to the legal medicine center of Mazandaran Province during January 2002 to January 2004 were enrolled and the patterns of motorcyclist's mortalities were determined. Of the 89 bodies, 93.3% were male and 84.2% were riders. About 60% sustained injuries from collision with a car. Two third of the deaths occurred in the first half of the year. Three fourth of the death occurred in heavy traffic volume time of a day [7 am to 10 pm] peaking at 9 pm [21%]. Fifty seven percent died on the rural roads collisions and 47% on the urban road collisions. Head injury was the main cause of death [50.6%]. Motorcyclist's mortalities were prevalent in young motorcycle riders [males], collision with a car, first half of the year, heavy traffic volume time, riding on rural roads, and head injury was the main cause of death