How Do Car Crashes Compare To Road Wrecks That Involve Two-Wheeled Vehicles?

Two‐Wheeled vehicles have become a highly preferred source of mobility because of their ease of penetration through traffic and ease of getting to areas where cars might not be able to access.

They are a key trend of urbanization worldwide. All the same, two-wheeled vehicles are more prone to road crashes and constitute a reasonable percentage of all deaths from road crashes.

Two-wheeled vehicles, therefore, have a higher likelihood of road accidents which although not fatal, increases the chances of injuries, disabilities, and an increased social cost. While there are traffic laws in all countries that govern the use of roads, both cars, and two-wheeled vehicles continue to violate these laws and accidents remain a good cause of deaths. The road wrecks that involve two-wheeled vehicles, however, differs from car crashes in the following ways:

Crash Configurations 

The common accident conditions for both cars and two-wheeled vehicles are head-on-side collisions, head-on collisions, and sideswipe collisions. Similarly, most crashes for both types of vehicles occur in the daytime, on roads, and under clear conditions of visibility. The accidents that occur at road intersections are lower for both types of vehicles. However, the most common road intersection status where both vehicles have accidents is at a four-way crossroads.

Crash Characteristics and Typologies

Among the two-wheeled vehicles, scooters are the main vehicles that are involved in road accidents. The two-wheeled vehicles involved in accidents are commonly those with an engine size of between 50cc and 150cc although those with 125cc are the most likely to be involved in road crashes. The ages of the riders of these two-wheeled vehicles involved in road crashes range from 17 years to 56 years. Most of these two-wheeled vehicles are also those that do not have anti-lock brake structures but have both rear boxes and windshields. In cars, the engine size does not necessarily influence a car’s involvement in road accidents. Small cars are however the most likely to be involved in road crashes. 

Interestingly, in two-wheeled vehicles, the front area is often the first point of impact while in cars the impact is fairly distributed between the sides and front parts. This is true, especially in some areas in Missouri. All impacts however cause serious injuries to people riding in them. You should thus beware that there are specific compensation attorneys for injuries acquired from both two-wheeled vehicles and cars. When you are involved in an accident involving a two-wheeled vehicle and are hurt, finding a St. Louis motorcycle accident lawyer is a must. These compensation lawyers should have a long time of experience in winning such cases in court. They should have a good understanding of the various forms of two-wheeled vehicle accidents and their impacts as well as appropriate compensation.

Injury Characteristics and Outcome 

Most two-wheeled vehicle accidents involve males of median age and these individuals suffer major traumas. Two-wheeled vehicle injuries commonly affect the head, the spine, abdomen, and lower limbs. The thorax and the abdomen often suffer minor injuries although the thorax suffers ninety percent of the injury followed by the head. Many two-wheeled injuries are however severe. 

While most small cars are the ones involved in road accidents,  the few large and compact cars cause major head injuries. Likewise, the thoracic and facial injuries from cars increase with the speed and impact. However, high speed often causes abdominal injuries. Also, accidents that occur at road intersections have severe injuries than those which occur far from them.

The Severity of Injuries in Intersection Crashes 

During intersection crashes, head injuries are the most common for two-wheeled vehicles. The skull and internal organs also suffer severe injuries. The vault, cerebrum, and cranium are the most affected regions. A contusion is the most common type of injury, while intraventricular hemorrhages and subdural hematoma are less common. As for the cars, head injuries are the most fatal because of the direct contact of the victims with infrastructure. The windscreen causes many injuries while the pillar and car doors follow respectively. The ground is the main source of car injuries. For two-wheeled vehicles, there is no direct relationship between speed and the severity of injuries. Both two-wheeled vehicles and cars cause serious spinal injuries in accident victims.

Two-wheeled vehicles in the recent past have gained popularity worldwide. They are however the most likely to be involved in road accidents compared to cars. There are however differences in the severity of injuries between the two types of vehicles. Also, while many victims of two-wheeled vehicles are males, there is a reasonable number of females involved in car crashes. Intersection crashes are uncommon but are the greatest cause of severe injuries for both types of vehicles. Luckily, whichever type of vehicle you are in when you get an accident, there are personal injury attorneys who specifically and with a lot of expertise handle each situation accordingly.