To reduce the increasing number of children and adolescents having motorcycle accidents in Victoria, legislation needs to be changed and more education strategies need to be put in place, according to a research paper published in the latest issue of Medical Journal of Australia.

Paediatric Emergency Physician, Dr Catherine Bevan, and her co-authors wanted to quantify an anecdotal increase in motorcycle-related injuries in children and adolescents across Victoria.

“Riding motorcycles … is a popular sport among children and adolescents in Australia. Unfortunately, more and more young patients are presenting after motorcycle crashes and children as young as five years old are being injured while riding these vehicles,” Dr Bevan said.

Between July 2000 and June 2004, 3,163 patients under the age of 16 years presented to a Victorian emergency department with injuries from motorcycle accidents. The number of accidents has been increasing at a rate of almost 10 per cent per year. In the same four-year period, there were 167 motorcycle-related admissions to the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne. These injuries can be serious or fatal.

Only about half of the RCH patients’ notes stated whether the patient had been wearing a helmet – of these, 28 per cent were not wearing one.

Dr Bevan said about a quarter of these motorbike accidents occurred in children under 10 years old and most occurred off-road.

“In Australia, it is not legal for children to ride motorcycles on public roads other than as pillion passengers. However, there is currently no legislation [to cover] private property or off-road. … Injury prevention efforts are limited.” In Victoria, no legislation exists … on the wearing of helmets or protective clothing for off-road riding.”