Road Accidents Involving Motorcyclists in the Practice of Emergency Medical Teams – Statistical Analysis of the Effects of Motorcycle Accidents on Polish Roads in 2019

Purpose: The aim of the article was to analyze motorcycle accidents in Poland on the basis of statistical data from the Polish Police Headquarters from 2019. The author presents the collected data in the form of charts, broken down by causes, the number of events in individual months, and the age of the perpetrators, injured and victims. The work also deals with the issue of dealing with victims of motorcycle accidents as part of first aid and rescue. Introduction: Every year, the number of casualties on Polish roads is increasing. Accidents affect all forms of transport and communication. Modern technologies used in the production of motor vehicles, a number of forms of improving their skills available to drivers offered by training entities and the improving infrastructure of roads in the country predispose to increased traffic on Polish roads. Drivers often lose control of their vehicles, forgetting about the potential dangers of recklessness and irresponsibility. Various types of traffic incidents involving these vehicles then take place. The chances of motorcyclists during traffic accidents, despite the security measures used in helmets and protective clothing, are small. Methodology: The main research tool used during the work on the article was the analysis of data contained in the documentation. The data presented in this study constitute the material entitled Road accidents in Poland in 2019 provided by the General Police Headquarters (KGP) Road Traffic Office. The author has made a statistical analysis of the above-mentioned data to visualize road accidents involving motorcyclists and their consequences. The events in which a motorcyclist was injured and the most common causes of accidents caused by motorcyclists, the age of the perpetrators of accidents – motorcyclists, as well as fatalities and injuries in these road accidents are presented. Conclusions: In 2019, motorcyclists made up a large group of people who died or were seriously injured in road accidents. The number of traffic accidents and the number of killed motorcyclists is greater than 2018. Data analysis allowed to define the most common causes of accidents involving motorcyclists caused by drivers of other vehicles. These include: failure to give right-of-way and incorrect behavior on the road while driving, such as turning, changing lanes or overtaking. On the other hand, the most common causes of accidents caused by motorcyclists are: excessive speed, incorrect overtaking, no safe distance from other vehicles, failure to give right-of-way. Keywords: motorcycle accidents, emergency medical team, multi-organ trauma Type of article: review article