Motorcycle drivers' fatalities in multiple crashes: who's responsable for death?

Introduction: Motorcycle (MC) drivers, mostly vulnerable for severe injuries in traffic accidents, are often involved in lethal multiple crashes. In the last years a lot have done for preventive measures in four-wheel vehicle, but motorcycles are still to consider a life-threatening motorized transportation form. In Italy 26% of road fatalities concern motorcyclists and as shown in an European study (2004) collision’s types are in 16% a MC crash not involving other road users (RU), in 80% it’s a MC colliding with one motorized RU, in 4% the collision is with two RU and exceptional it’s a crash between a MC and three other vehicles. Responsibility in MC-vehicle crashes is due in 50% of cases to the vehicle driver and in 37% to the MC-driver. Coherently if more vehicles are involved, it’s more difficult to identify the single responsibility in the crash and in the resulting injuries and motorcyclist’s death. Methods: We present three MC lethal accidents in which the responsibility of the MC driver’s death was questioned because one or more vehicle run over the MC driver after a fall. Results and Conclusions: In these cases autopsy has been asked by the state attorney because of the complexity of crashes due to different road users. Central question was if it was possible to assign injuries to a specific crash and to ascribe the responsibility of motorcyclist’s death to a defined subject (motorcyclist himself and/or car drivers). Through a stepwise analyse of the crash dynamic, based on the police reports and evaluation of all injuries revealed at autopsy, we present, when possible, our injury aetiology for each case and the concerning responsibility assignments and exclusion.