Brain Injuries Due To Motorcycle Accidents in Los Angeles

How Common Are Brain Injuries Due to Motorcycle Accidents in Los Angeles?

California does not report the exact injuries caused by motorcycle accidents. However, it does release two data points that suggest how many head injuries result from motorcycle accidents.

According to the Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS), about 8.3% of motorcyclists involved in accidents in Los Angeles County in 2021 were unhelmeted. In Los Angeles, the rate of helmet use was even higher. Only 6.1% of motorcyclists involved in accidents in LA in 2021 failed to wear a helmet.

Research suggests that helmeted riders have about a 31% chance of sustaining a head injury. Unhelmeted riders have about a 38% chance of a head injury.

This means that motorcycle accidents in Los Angeles County probably resulted in head injuries to roughly 780 helmeted riders and 110 unhelmeted riders. Of these, an estimated 285 helmeted riders and 30 unhelmeted riders could have suffered head injuries in Los Angeles.

The second data point released by California also comes from California’s TIMS. According to the state’s crash map, Los Angeles motorcycle injuries in 2021 fell into four categories:

• 5.48% were fatal
• 37.16% were serious enough to require an ambulance to transport the accident victim
• 34.42% had visible injuries but did not require an ambulance
• 22.94% had injuries that were not visible but complained of pain or other symptoms

Brain injuries can fall into any of these categories. Concussions are rarely fatal. People who died from brain injuries usually suffered more serious injuries like a contusion, diffuse axonal injury (DAI), or hematoma.