Moving Well | Ian Munro | Posted on 06 January 2017

Two prime factors helped drive a spike in Victorian motorcycle deaths in 2016. Late afternoon, a few days before Christmas, the city was already slowing down. The road seemed clear, empty of traffic. One hundred metres to my right a taxi, newly loaded with passengers, pulled away from the corner hotel into the beginnings of a U-turn. There was also the rising note of an approaching motorbike, accelerating from the even more distant roundabout. My view of it was obscured by the turning taxi that now straddled the tram lines. There was no mistaking the sudden explosion of metal and glass, a cacophony of disaster. Lost in the thump of the bike against the taxi’s nearside passenger door was that of the rider slamming into the taxi. Within moments a crowd had gathered. The taxi’s attempted manoeuvre, a U-turn over an unbroken line, was technically unlawful yet routine. It is a rule disregarded daily on Melbourne roads. Passers-by performed CPR on the fallen rider until an ambulance arrived, seemingly after an eternity. He could not be saved. His was one of the last road deaths of 2015 and it seemed to portend what was to come in the rest of the summer.

Some older riders returning to motorcycling may never have had formal training.

Tragic ‘aberration’

By the end of March 2016, 24 riders had died in Victoria, compared with 30 for all of 2015. At year’s end the motorcycle toll for 2016 was 56, including one pillion passenger. How can such a reverse be understood after years of improvement? “This significant increase when you look at the data over five years is an aberration,” says Doug Fryer, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner (traffic), “but I find it offensive to use the word aberration when you are talking about people whose lives have been lost.” Two factors are prominent: unlicensed riders and older riders. Among those killed were 20 motorcyclists who did not have a licence, as well as three restricted licence riders on bikes deemed too powerful for learners. “We are seeing a higher level of unlawful riding than what we were seeing in previous years,” says Doug. “We have 23 who should not have been out on the road… close to 50 per cent of those who are dead should never have been there.” Older riders are also prominent in the toll. Twenty-one of the 56 killed were aged between 40 and 59, and a further seven were over 60. Police suspect many are people who have held a licence since their youth, sometimes for decades, without actively riding. Unlike driver training, formal rider training has only become widely available relatively recently. Some returning to motorcycling may never have had formal training. “It’s pointless me trying to educate people who make a deliberate decision to ride whilst unlicensed. They have made a deliberate decision to break the law,” says Doug.

At least 21 riders killed had no protective clothing other than the mandated helmet.