Opinion: It’s up to motorcyclists to ensure their own safety

With motorcyclists 30 times more likely to die in a crash than car occupants, top cop Ben Marcus has a message for his fellow riders.

Imagine having a job where the first thing you do every morning, and the last thing you do every night, is check the briefs from police officers about fatal and serious traffic crashes. Also imagine if about half the time, that news isn’t good.

Now imagine also being a lifelong motorcyclist and knowing that puts you in the most vulnerable group of road users in Queensland at the moment.

This year, we’ve seen motorcyclists die at a rate that’s close to 40 per cent more than we’ve ever seen before.

If, like me, you are one of the more than 200,000 (and rapidly growing) motorcycle riders in Queensland, there are some things I want you to know.

Some of us ride for work, some through necessity, some to save money, but mostly for the sheer joy of riding.

Our safety is largely up to us.

On a motorcycle, we are 30 times more likely to die in a crash than if we were in a car. When everything on the road is bigger than us, we just have to be more careful.

More than 40 motorcyclists have died on Queensland roads so far this year. About 70 per cent of crashes have been the fault of the rider. A third haven’t involved anyone else. Most occur on weekends and over half at speeds under 80km/h.

They include fathers, brothers, sons, uncles and friends. The gendered language here is deliberate, because almost all of our motorcycling community who have died this year are male. They are also middle-aged. They went for a weekend ride and they didn’t come home. I’m telling you this because I want you to return home safely.

Every life lost is one too many. Each one has a family who wants to know what happened and why.

Our forensic crash investigators do that on their behalf, and it takes a toll on them, particularly when almost all crashes could have been avoided.

Our investigators must understand how the crash occurred and consider how it could have been prevented.

Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus

They explore the engineering, the physics, and the environment but it almost always comes down to one thing – behaviour.

A single decision, omission or action is literally all it takes sometimes to separate a great ride from a tragic one.

Too often we attend crashes where injuries could be less severe with better safety gear.

This goes for pillions as well.

Why would you ride a $30,000 motorcycle and wear a $100 helmet?

What has changed is the number of bikes on our roads.

We know there are a lot more bikes being bought and registered and experts in the industry tell us that many of these are people returning to riding after a long absence.

Can I tell you, from personal experience, the bikes of today are nothing like the ones I learnt to ride in the ’70s and ’80s.

When was the last time you took a motorcycle riding lesson, and I don’t mean a track day or advice from a mate who rides faster than you? I mean a proper “this is what you are doing wrong or could be doing better’ lesson from a real training provider.

In case you were wondering, we do this for our police motorcyclists every year.

We know that crashes generally occur because riders run out of time to take corrective action. We need to identify risks early and take action to manage them.

Halfway through a corner is the wrong time to start thinking about your options.

Grabbing a handful of brakes is too late to wish you weren’t in harm’s way.

If you are riding with others, take your time and don’t feel pressured to keep up.

The right thing to do is agree on a destination and get there in your own time.

It’s your ride.

So what does having a job like mine teach you?

Plan your ride. Take your time. Follow the rules. Wear good safety gear. Don’t take risks.

I don’t want you to avoid riding, I want you to enjoy it – safely.

Ben Marcus is Assistant Police Commissioner (Road Policing Command)