Learning from insurance data: Injuries to other road users in motorcyclist at-fault crashes

In multivehicle crashes involving motorcycles, the motorcycle rider is less likely to be at fault but more commonly severely injured than the other road user. Not surprisingly, crashes in which motorcycle riders were at fault and, particularly, crashes in which the other road users were injured have not received little research attention. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature by an investigation of the factors influencing the severity of injury to other road users in crashes in which the motorcyclist was at fault. Five years of data from Queensland, Australia, were obtained from a database of claims against the compulsory third party (CTP) injury insurance of the at-fault motorcyclists. Analysis of the data with an ordered profit model showed more severe injuries in crashes involving young (younger than 25) and older (older than 60) at-fault motorcyclists. Of the not-at-fault road users, the young, the old, and males were found to be more severely injured than were others. Injuries to vehicle occupants were less severe than those to motorcycle passengers. Crashes that occurred between vehicles traveling in opposite directions resulted in injuries that were more severe than injuries in crashes involving vehicles traveling in the same direction. While most existing studies have analyzed crash data reported by police, this study used CTP insurance data. Comparison of results indicates that CTP insurance data could be used as an alternative to crash data reported by police for gaining a better understanding of risk factors for motorcycle crashes and injury severity.