Ju Yong Cheong and Mark Rice
Objective: To determine the demographics, risk factors, patterns of injuries sustained from off road motor vehicles in rural NSW.
Design: A retrospective review.
Setting: Dubbo Base Hospital is a major referral base hospital for Western NSW. Participants: All patients admitted to Dubbo Base Hospital with off-road motor vehicle injuries in between years 2009-2011.
Main outcome measures: Demographics, referral areas, pattern of injuries sustained from off road motor vehicle accidents.
Results: There were total of 57 cases, with 53 being males. Average age for the patient was 13.7. There were 9 quadbike accidents, and 48 off road dirtbike accidents. For quadbike accidents, mechanism of injuries were: collision(5), rollovers (3), fall (1). Four out of nine quadbike accident patients were wearing a helmet. With off road motorbike (dirtbike) accidents, 17 were from motorcross jumps, and 31 were farming accidents. Farming accidents comprised of 19 falls and 12 collisions. Of the 17 involved in motorcross jump related accident, 12 were wearing safety gears. On average, they were travelling at much higher speed, with average of 50 km/hr, and highest of 80 km/hr. The most common injuries were soft tissue injuries and peripheral long bone fractures, however more severe injuries were noted with motocross jump related injuries.
Discussion/Conclusion: This study found the vast majority of injuries from off road motor vehicles in rural Australia occur in children. It is of concern that there are currently no enforceable road regulations for off-road motor vehicle use on privately owned properties. There needs to be better education of the younger drivers as well as enforceable regulations to allow safe use of the off road motor vehicles.
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