Reported Incidence of Motor – Cycle Crash in the Emergency Department at Legion Hospital

ABSTRACT

Road accidents among motorcyclist have long remained a serious public health problem and poses health burden I developing countries. Over speeding, poor enforcement of traffic regulations, non-use of helmets and protective attire as well as over loading of passengers have been highly implicated in road traffic injuries in developing countries. Most of the motorcyclists meander through traffic in a haste to reach their destinations which results in motorcycle crush which leads to severe injuries. The aim of this study is to determine the reported incidence of motorcycle crush. It will be a cross – sectional descriptive retrospective hospital based study which would be carried out at the University of Ghana Legon, Accra from January 2013 to December 2015. Data was collected from the Hospital record cards from the Emergency Department which included demographic factors, injury patterns and use of helmets. The injuries were grouped according to the anatomical site affected. In the period of one year, a total of 2,560 emergency department at Legon Hospital out of which 500 (%) were motorcycle crash victims. They were made up of 430 males (%) and 70 females (%) and between the ages of 18 and 45 year. Extremity injuries 470(%) and head injuries was 30(%).The commonest musculoskeletal injury was fracture with the tibia and fibula fracture comprising the largest proportion .There were 20(%) of motor cycle crash injury victims who sustained injury in more than one body region.The most frequent reported collision was between motorcycle and motor vehicle,followed by the collision between motorcycle and pedestrians.Motorcycle crash is a major problem where the majority of those involved are the youth.The majority of the injuries involved the extremity and head injuries since motorcycle crashes are preventable and the associated factors which causes injury can be reduced,laws and restrictive regulations should be put in place since riding lincense and  use of helmet are still not widely used.