The potential harm associated with any given traffic
accident is usually greater for motorcyclists and their passengers,
since they are not protected by the vehicle
structure. For this reason, motorcyclists account for >50%
of traffic deaths in mainland China and Taiwan (National
Police Agency, 2005; Wang et al., 2003). In Hong Kong,
the accident rate involving motorcycles is 3.4 times greater
than that for private cars, and the proportion of motorcyclists
sustaining severe or fatal injuries is 5% greater than
for car drivers (Transport Department of Hong Kong, 2011).
In Australia, motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to be
killed and 37 times more likely to be seriously injured
than car occupants per distance travelled (Department
of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and
Local Government, 2008).