Lay Description
MIPNet aims to use linked, multi-agency data within the PRANA Registry and the Wessex SDE to improve the prevention of motorcycle injuries. Using linked data, the project will:
- Assess the effectiveness of existing motorcycle injury prevention interventions, including the Motorcycle Injury Prevention Network and DocBike interventions which has not previously been possible due to a lack of linked data.
- Identify opportunities for new, scalable prevention approaches, positioning Wessex and partners as national leaders in motorcycle injury prevention research.
- Develop an evaluation framework to support future assessment, adoption and national expansion of effective prevention strategies.
- Work alongside Wessex Health Partners, Wessex Experimental Medicine Network, NIHR and the BRC to coordinate, fund, deliver and publish high-quality prevention research. Road traffic collisions causing death or serious injury cost the UK £40 billion each year (DfT, 2024). Motorcyclists represent the highest fatality rate per mile travelled, accounting for 66% of road deaths per mile in England.
Improving motorcycle safety offers major public benefit:
- Preventing collisions could save hundreds of lives annually and significantly reduce pressure on NHS trauma services.
- Motorcyclists are historically hard to reach with conventional road safety messaging, requiring tailored, evidence-based approaches.
- Dorset has delivered a novel, clinician-led intervention for 12 years through the DocBike programme, but its impact has never been formally evaluated.
- A recent literature review confirms no validated evaluation tools currently exist for assessing motorcycle injury prevention strategies.
Developing a robust evaluation framework for MIPNet is therefore essential to understand what works, improve services and support national expansion.