UNLABELLED: Motorcyclists are extremely vulnerable road participants who are exposed to severe, often fatal injuries. Relative to four - wheeled vehicles, motorcycle pose a greater hazard of death or serious injury to operators and passengers. In fatal crashes, the motorcyclist typically collides with moving or stationary objects in the riding environment. The most common mechanism of crashes is hitting a moving vehicle followed by hitting a stationary object. The mechanism of injury resulting in death usually comes from severe blunt force trauma, creating internal and external injuries to the motorcyclist, especially craniocerebral, spinal, and sometimes with very characteristic injury patterns. The paper also identified effects of alcohol, which represent a significant risk factor for motorcycle operators. Presented concise review of selected risk factors and typical motorcycle-related injuries may be useful for both forensic pathologists, clinicians and law enforcement in preventive and repressive steps. KEYWORDS: motorcycle fatalities - risk factors - injury patterns - alcohol impairment - medicolegal study.

Institute of Forensic Medicine and Medicolegal Expertises Jessenius Faculty of Medicine Comenius University Martin Slovak Republic