More than 62 motorbike accidents in Ballarat have led to serious injury over the past five years, TAC data shows.
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This year two males have died from motorcycle accidents in Ballarat – a man under 25 and man aged between 50 and 59.
One rider was run off a straight road and the other died after a crash with a vehicle coming from an adjacent direction. These fatalities occurred on a Monday and a Saturday between 4pm and midnight.
Between February 2011 and February this year 57 claims made by motorcyclists who were hospitalised were processed by the TAC. Eight of these riders were so badly injured that they were in hospital for over a week. 54 of these riders were male and three were female.
The majority of riders were aged between 29 and 59 but there was one rider under 17.
A shocking 17 of these riders were run off a straight road. The majority of accidents occurred on either a Saturday or a Monday. The vast majority of these accidents occurred between 12 noon and 8pm.
TAC Senior Road Safety Manager Samantha Cockfield said strong messages about the importance of wearing safety gear, driving for the conditions and well within the speed limits would be delivered in the lead up to the motor bike season.
Ms Cockfield said seasonable factors meant serious injuries and death usually occurred in the autumn and spring months.
Ms Cockfield attributed the high number of deaths in male 29-49 age group to the fact that most riders were from this age group.
“We do find in Victoria particularly, most motor cyclists are either commuters and recreational riders or primarily ride for recreational purposes,” Ms Cockfield said.
“I call them returning riders, they are older people who had licences when young get back on their bike.”
Ms Cockfield said programs like the newly introduced graduated licensing scheme for motorcyclists would have a positive impact – that would be clearly seen in a few years.