The right gear can prevent or reduce a number of injuries, particularly those caused when you are sliding and tumbling along the road surface. Here, good protective clothing can make the difference between a bad dose of gravel rash and skin grafts. It protects against:

• Abrasion and the loss of skin and muscle as well as friction burns.
• Cuts and penetration by sharp objects.
• Contact burns from vehicle engines and exhaust systems.
• The severity of some fractures and joint damage by absorbing and distributing the force of an impact.

While there is a limit to what protective clothing can do (it won't protect you from the impact of hitting a solid object, particularly at high speed, or from being crushed by another vehicle), the types of injuries listed above represent over half of all injuries sustained by motorcycle casualties.¹

So the attitude adjustment involved is minor: cover the parts of your skin you'd like to keep. With what?

Take the time now to find out, and you'll not only drastically increase your chances of avoiding these injuries, you'll minimise the risk of infection and soft tissue damage and reduce blood loss if they do occur.

A German study found that riders involved in a crash who wore protective clothing spent on average seven days less in hospital than those without it. They were also able to return to work 20 days sooner. But the best news of all came after hours: they were 40% less likely to have permanent physical defects.²

Latest crash data suggests that riders' clothing is effective in preventing 34% and reducing 57% of minor injuries (ACEM, 2004).³

1) Hurt, H.H. Jr., Ouellet, J.V. & Thom, D.R. (1981), Motorcycle accident cause factors and identification of countermeasures, Final Report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, US Department of Transportation, PB 81-206443, 81-206450, p 170.

2) Schuller, E., Beir, G. & Spann, W. (1986), Disability and impairment of protected and unprotected motorcycle riders, Proceedings of the SAE International Congress and Exposition - Crash Injury Impairment and Disability: Long Term Effects, Detroit, MI, Warrendale, PA, pp 51-56,
ISBN 0-89883-932-7.

3) Clothing effectiveness was noted where direct contact with surfaces was evident but no Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 1 level injury recorded. These percentages derived with permission from data in MAIDS Final Report 1.1, ACEM, 2004.