‘One bad decision’: Motorcycle deaths reach 10-year high

One in five fatal crashes on NSW roads this year has involved a motorcycle, with young men disproportionately represented in the deaths.

Bikers and their passengers totalled 52 of the 266 deaths recorded this year to October 16, a 10-year high and a 33 per cent jump from last year’s figures.

Data from the past decade shows fatalities aged in their 20s were double those in their 30s. Of those in their 20s, 138 were men and four were women, and a third were on learner or provisional licences.

As with car crashes, speed was the most common factor in fatal incidents, followed by fatigue and drugs or alcohol.

Motorcycles make up just 3.8 per cent of registered vehicles in NSW.

Roads Minister John Graham said the disproportionate numbers of deaths should be a warning to all drivers, noting that fatalities occurred because of “one bad decision”, such as not checking twice for motorcycles.

“The numbers tell a story and that is that young males on motorcycles are dying in numbers that are too high and should not be accepted as the status quo,” he said.

Graham has previously raised concerns about the state’s road toll. In 2023, 349 people died on NSW roads, the greatest increase in 15 years.

Motorcycle Council of NSW chairman Vinnie Bee also urged motorists to check for bikes when pulling out onto a road or making a turn on a street.

“You see a ‘biker’, someone else sees a dad, a mum or a child,” he said.

The college of surgeons’ trauma chair, Dr Matthew Hope, said it was not known why road deaths were increasing, but it was of significant concern.

Hope said it was not surprising that young men were the group with the highest fatalities.

“Young men are risk-takers. However, I would say the other problem with motorcycles is, even if you are the best rider, you are inherently less protected and visible.”

Nearly two-thirds of the decade’s fatalities occurred regionally. Regional Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said many involved young bikers running off the road at a curve or crashing into a tree or bush.

Darren Sheens was paralysed from the chest down following a motorcycle crash in 1990. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Darren Sheens was a 21-year-old postman when he was struck by a reversing truck on the Great Western Highway near Doonside Road, in Sydney’s west.

Thirty-four years later, he remembers taking off at the lights and seeing a dark shadow.

“I woke up on the highway, and then I woke up at Royal North Shore Hospital,” he recalled.

A spinal cord injury left Sheens paralysed from the waist down.

After initially moving into his grandmother’s retirement villa, Sheens rebuilt his life. He still works for Australia Post, in the office, and trained with the 2004 Paralympic basketball squad.

Despite his injury, Sheens supports young people riding motorcycles, saying it is on bikers to ride safely and drivers to be aware of their surroundings.

“Think for other road users and not just yourself,” he said. “You might be in the right, but you can still get hurt.”

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