PREFACE
Over the years, motorcycle crashes have caused so many injuries and fatalities in Malaysia. Many families have lost their loved ones and breadwinners. The research on road safety mostly focused on engineering, for example the road infrastructure, epidemiology and behaviour of the motorcyclists. The study on the helmet itself is lacking. The aim of this book is to provide an insight into head and facial injuries in association with the helmet condition post-road crash. We have endeavoured to include all helmet types used by Malaysians. The component of each helmet type is described in Chapter 2. Motorcycle head and facial injuries are highlighted in Chapter 3. Following that, the process of helmet damage analysis and its association with the head and facial injuries are described in Chapters 4, 5 and 6.
The most significant results discovered by this study was about the way a helmet is worn, particularly among those with head injuries, and this should be highlighted alongside with the speed management as the road safety projection to reduce death and injuries. There are a lot more to explore in this topic, hopefully this book will induce more research in helmet research specifically, and road safety in general. We hope that the students and lecturers in various fields in road safety, policy makers and enforcement agencies, parents and the motorcycle users themselves will gain some benefits from this book.
We are very grateful to the Helmet Laboratory, SIRIM, ShahAlam especially Mr. Muhammad Tashriff Shah Bin Helmy Shamza for performing the helmet investigation with us. We are also indebted to the Plastic Technology Laboratory, SIRIM, especially Ir. Zarina Rasmin for conducting the FTIR test. Special thanks to all the participating hospitals: the UKM Medical Centre, Kajang Hospital, Ampang Hospital and Serdang Hospital. This work would not have been possible without the Monash Injury Research Institute or Monash University Accident Research Centre, the place where fine road safety specialists with different background andexpertise gather and share their experience. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the UKM research grant: DD/008(2)/2008 for giving us theopportunity to venture this complex research.
Roszalina Ramli
Roderick Mcclure
Jennifer Oxley
