Local experts have called for greater awareness following a tragic crash last week that marked another motorcyclist death on west Logan roads.
And while the fatality statistics are alarming, the experts say they’re barely scratching the surface of the issue.
Last week a 31-year-old man was killed after his motorbike collided with a car at North Maclean, at the intersection of Teviot Road and Scott Lane.
Less than a month earlier, another rider, a 52-year-old Greenbank man, died at Jimboomba after he veered off the Mount Lindsay Highway.
In November, a 45-year old man died after his bike collided with a car while travelling along Johnson Road near Elliot Court, at Hillcrest.
A 30-year-old man died in July after his bike hit a guard rail on the Logan Motorway near Forestdale.
Just weeks earlier, a 36-year-old man died after colliding with a ute travelling along Cusack Lane near Sunline Way, at Riverbend.
One year ago on 12 March, a 37-year-old man died after crashing his bike on Second Avenue near Macarthy Road, at Marsden.
These are only the deaths that made MyCity Logan headlines in the last year.
Riding coach of more than 20 years and the director of SMART Rider Academy, Stephen McDowall, said the large majority of serious crashes were single-vehicle.
“Approximately 60% of crashes are single vehicle, so there’s no one else to blame,” Mr McDowall said.
Police data confirms this, showing that riders were “at fault” in almost three quarters of crashes.
Of these crashes, 93% involved unsuitable speeds, 68% were inexperienced riders, and 62% were found to have engaged in dangerous operation or intoxication (or suspected intoxication).
Motorcycle fatalities made up 30% of road deaths in Queensland last year.
Mr McDowall said the alarming number of serious injuries to motorcyclists were often overlooked.
He said the ratio of death to serious injury for riders was 1:19.
“So for every rider fatality that we hear of, there’s another 19 or so out there that have been seriously injured,” Mr McDowell said.
“That could mean that they’ll never ride again, they can’t walk properly, or their income has been cut because they can’t work properly. That’s also one of the big things that we’re working with.”
He said this issue wasn’t specific to Logan.
“It’s right across the country, and other countries as well,” he said.
“We don’t have as many bikes on the road as we do cars – we’re about 5-6% of the road fleet, but make up to 35% of fatalities – it’s highly disproportionate, it always has been. We are far more vulnerable on a motrocycle.”
Mr McDowell said that while this was true, there were “a lot of myths” to be “shattered”.
“If you ask the riding community, a lot of the riders will say, ‘it’s not my fault, it was another car’,” he said.
“We refer to that as externalizing – it’s putting the blame somewhere else, and it doesn’t help the rider.
“Then the riders will say, ‘but the road surface, we’ve got some of the worst roads in the world’… but the Queensland police statistics tell us that the road conditions only contribute to around 2% of serious crashes.
“So it’s all coming back to one thing: the rider.”
He said it was crucial to focus on fixing three rider traits: skills (both physical and mental), confidence and attitude.
Police are investigating the North Maclean accident, and have called for any witnesses to contact police.
They are looking for a learner driver they believe can help.
“It is understood the driver was turning from Teviot Lane into Scott Lane prior to the collision,” police said.
“Investigators believe the driver was not involved in the incident.”
