Motorcycle Safety Facts (Illinois Data) Mehdi Nassirpour, Ph.D. Bureau of Safety Programs and Engineering Illinois Department of Transportation Presented at the Traffic Records Forum in New Orleans in 2017

Objectives Safety Programs at IDOT General Statistics Results of Linked Data (Effectiveness of Helmet Use on Head injuries and cost) Strategies to Reduce Motorcycle Fatalities and Injuries

New Safety Programs at IDOT Bureau of Safety Programs and Engineering Administrative Support Safety Policy & Initiatives Safety Programs Crash Information Safety Analysis & Evaluation

Safety Analysis & Evaluation Problem IDs Project & Program Evaluation Performance Measures & Targets Safety Performance Functions Safety Analyst & IHSDM Software Traffic Records & Data Linkages

Traffic Records & Data Linkages Traffic Records Committees Executive Steering Technical Two Subcommittee Data Quality Engineering CODES Site-based Linkages

Illinois Highway Safety Program Areas Occupant Protection Impaired Driving Aggressive Driving and Speeding Distracted Driving (Cell Phone Use and Texting Drowsy Driving Motorcycle Safety Younger Driver Older Driver Pedestrian Pedal-cycle Engineering

Illinois Fatalities by Vehicle Type, 2006 & 2015

Helmet Laws Laws requiring all motorcyclists to wear a helmet are in place in 19 states (Universal Helmet Law). Laws requiring only some motorcyclists (most often age 17 and under) to wear a helmet are in place in 28 states. Two states (Florida and Michigan) allow motorcyclists over the age of 21 to ride without helmet if they have a certain level of medical insurance (over $10,000 or $20,000). There is no motorcycle helmet use law in three states (Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire).

Total Fatalities and Motorcyclist Fatalities

Motorcycle Fatalities and Fatality Rate Per 100,000 Registered Motorcycles by Year (Illinois)

Motorcyclist Fatalities Projected Figure

Unhelmeted Motorcyclist Fatalities Projected Figure

Total Traffic Fatalities in 2015 and 2016 Total traffic fatalities went up by about 7.2 % and 6.0% nationally and 8.0% and 8.2% Illinois in 2015 and 2016 respectively.  The main reasons for an increase in fatalities are:  Improved economy Low gas prices Low unemployment rates  Other factors that contribute to high fatal and injury crashes are:  Temperature and nice weather Speed (increase in speed limit) Cell Phone use and Texting Alcohol/Drug Drowsy Driving

Percent No Valid Motorcycle License Among Motorcycle Riders Involved in Fatal Crashes by Year (Illinois versus US)

Motorcycle Helmet Usage Rate in Illinois and US (2010 - 2016) Data Source: Observational Survey

Effectiveness of Motorcycle Helmet Use in Reducing Head Injuries

Hospital Inpatient and Emergency Department Linked Data Process Crash Hospital Inpatient and Emergency Department (ED) Database Total Crash Victim= 3,539 Total=1,818 Outpatient =1,352 Inpatient=466 Since we don’t have detail injury data . We need to be dependent on health care data. Unfortunately health care data do not have causes of injuries. Although they have a detailed data on severity of injuries and cost and utilizations associated with injuries. Individual databases are not always adequate for certain analyses Two sources, law enforcement and public health track victims separately. None of the health-related data are linked back to crash data

Percent Total Inpatient and Outpatient Motorcycle Occupants by Age Group

Frequency and Percentage Distributions of Linked Motorcycle Occupants by Helmet Status Helmeted Not Helmeted Miscoded/ Not Available Inpatient Discharge 393 (35.7%) 706 (64.1%) 3 (0.2%) Outpatient Discharge (ED) 1442 (43.3%) 1872 (56.2%) 16 (0.5%) Total Hospital Discharge 1835 (41.4%) 2578 (58.2%) 19 (0.4%)

Percent Head Injuries by Helmet Status Total helmeted with head injury=225 Total helmeted with no head injury=1610 Total Not helmeted with head injury=590 Total Not helmeted with no head injury=1988 Note: the relationship between Helmet use and head injury is significant. Odd Ratio (OR) value is over 0.34 indicates that wearing helmet a protective against head injury.

Average Hospital Charge per Discharge All Crash Victims Motorcycle Occupants Inpatient Discharge $68,659 $86,703 Outpatient Discharge (ED) $4,407 $7,576 Total Hospital Discharge $8,657 $27,248

Research Questions What factors affect head injuries? What factors affect hospital charges?

Definition of Selected Variables Gender  Dummy variable with a value of 1 for male occupants and 0 for female occupants Age Self-explanatory Occupant Type Dummy variable with a value of 1 for operator and 0 for passenger  Time of Day Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants involved in nighttime crashes (6:00PM – 5:59AM) and 0 for occupants involved in daytime crashes (6:00AM – 5:59PM) Day of Week Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants involved in weekend crashes and 0 for occupants involved in weekday crashes  Crash Location   Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants involved in crashes on rural roads and 0 for occupants involved in crashes on other roads Alcohol Involvement Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants involved in alcohol related crashes and 0 for all other occupants Helmet Use Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants wore helmet in crashes and 0 for all unprotected occupants involved in crashes Injury location Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants experienced head injury from crashes and 0 for all other occupants who do not have head injury from crashes. Intersection Related Dummy variable with a value of 1 for occupants who are involved in Intersection-related crashes and 0 for all other occupants who are not involved in intersection-related crashes Hospital Charges   Total hospital charge per discharge

Results of Logistic Regression Analysis on Head Injury SELECTED VARIABLES Estimate Estimate change Ranking Pr > |t| Intercept -2.2045 <.0001 HELMET STATUS (HELMETED=1) -0.6540 Decrease 1 ALCOHOL IMPAIRMENT (IMPAIRED=1) 0.6884 Increase 2 GENDER (MALE=1) 0.2127 6 0.1967 AGE 0.0093 4 0.0015 RURAL/URBAN (RURAL=1) -0.0124 10 0.8959 TIME OF CRASH (NIGHT=1) 0.2952 3 0.0007 DAY OF WEEK (WEEKEND=1) 0.0476 8 0.5771 OPERATOR/PASSENGER (OPERATOR=1) 0.1164 9 0.5846 INTERSECTION-RELATED (INTERSECTION=1) -0.1742 5 0.0473 SPEED RELATED (SPEED=1) 0.0617 7 0.524

Results of Regression Analysis on Hospital Charges SELECTED VARIABLES Estimate Estimate Change Ranking Pr > |t| Intercept 8.3852964647 <.0001 HELMET STATUS (HELMETED=1) -0.117429630 Decrease 6 ALCOHOL IMPAIRMENT (IMPAIRED=1) 0.253635155 Increase 3 GENDER (MALE=1) -0.125676045 8 0.0001 AGE 0.007631491 2 RURAL/URBAN (RURAL=1) -0.078932129 9 TIME OF CRASH (NIGHT=1) 0.056650762 10 0.0033 DAY OF WEEK (WEEKEND=1) 0.011761866 11 0.5164 OPERATOR/PASSENGER (OPERATOR=1) 0.264075735 5 HEAD/NO HEAD INJURY (HEAD INJURY=1) 0.483135120 1 INTERSECTION-RELATED (INTERSECTION=1) -0.116574196 7 SPEED RELATED (SPEED=1) 0.140418178 4

Strategies that Work for Motorcyclists Helmet Law Alcohol Impairment Detection Conspicuity and Protective Clothing Proper rider Licensing Motorcycle Training Reduce alcohol impairment/Speeding Encourage all drivers to share the road with motorcyclists

Contact Information Mehdi Nassirpour, Ph.D., Manager of Evaluation Section Bureau of Safety Programs and Engineering Illinois Department of Transportation Room 005/007, 2300 South Dirksen Parkway Springfield, Illinois 62764 E-mail: mehdi.nassirpour@Illinois.gov Tel: (217) 785-8905