Police launch three-day blitz after horror motorbike rider death toll
Fatal motorbike crashes were the fault of the rider in 70 per cent of cases this year on Queensland’s roads, and police have launched a three-day blitz in response to the horror toll.
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A blunt message has been issued to all motorbike riders – if you die on Queensland’s roads, you are more than likely going to be the one who was at fault.
You are also likely to be male and middle-aged.
Queensland has lost 40 riders and one pillion passenger since January 1, the deadliest period recorded in at least the past five years.
In response to the staggeringly high number of deaths, Queensland Police will launch a three-day safety blitz on Friday in a bid to reel in the horror toll.
As part of the blitz, police have released figures which give a detailed picture of who is most at risk and when crashes are most likely to occur.
The data reveals that in every fatal motorbike crash this year the rider was at fault in 70 per cent of cases and only one of the riders killed were female.
The most prominent age groups were between 25 to 49 and 60 to 74 and almost 40 per cent of crashes occurred in 60km/hr zones.
Recreational rider and Assistant Commissioner Road Policing Ben Marcus said one third of motorbike fatalities have not involved another vehicle or person and most occur on weekends.
“They include fathers, brothers, sons, uncles and friends,” Assistant Commissioner Marcus said.
“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.”
As part of the blitz, which will continue across the weekend until August 1, there will be an increased policing presence in high traffic areas for recreational riders with officers focused on engaging riders about safe road habits.
As of June 2021, there were 226,187 registered motorbikes on the state’s roads – up 6 per cent from 2019.
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