How often do motorcycle accidents result in head and neck injuries?
- One in five crashes ✓
- One in twenty crashes
- One in fifty crashes
- One in one hundred crashes
Answer: A. One in five crashes
One in five motorcycle crashes results in head or neck injuries for the rider.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's gear chapter, quoting the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, says that one in every five motorcycle crashes causes head or neck injuries to the rider. That is why the same passage calls the helmet the most important single factor in preventing or reducing those injuries, and why BC requires every rider and passenger to wear an approved helmet. The other crash facts in the handbook talk about injuries and fatalities overall, not specifically head and neck injuries, so the one-in-five figure is the one that matches this question.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. One in twenty crashes — One in twenty is far lower than the handbook's figure of one in five crashes causing head or neck injuries.
- C. One in fifty crashes — One in fifty understates the risk; the handbook gives one in five, not one in fifty.
- D. One in one hundred crashes — One in one hundred is not the number the handbook states for head or neck injuries in crashes.
Remember it
Picture five riders in a row after a crash: one of them is dealing with a head or neck injury, so the helmet goes on every ride.