Motorcyclists - crashes

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Motorcycle riders experience a much higher risk of death and serious injury compared to other road users.

Nationally, the popularity of motorcycle riding appears to be increasing again since the decrease in the late 1980’s. The number of registered motorcycles in Australia increased by 24% between 1991 and 2001. However this trend is not evident in South Australia as yet. Major issues are: increasing death and injury rates for motorcycle riders aged 40 and above due to the increase of motorcycle riding among this group continuing high death and injury rates of younger riders risk-taking behaviours leading to crashes lack of protection if they crash.

How much higher are the risks?
A national study done by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found that:

• Motorcycle rider death rates increased among all rider age groups between 1998 and 2000
• Motorcycle rider deaths were nearly 30 times more than drivers of other vehicles
• Motorcycle riders aged below 40 are 36 times more likely to be killed than other vehicle operators of the same age.
• Motorcycle riders aged 40 years and over are around 20 times more likely to be killed than other drivers of that age.

Motorcycle crashes in South Australia
Each year in South Australia deaths of motorcycle riders make up around 16% of all driver and rider deaths.

Crashes involving motorcycles have generally reduced in South Australia since the 1980s. Motorcyclists account for less than 1% of all vehicle travel in South Australia, and yet 10% of all fatal and serious casualties are motorcyclists or pillion passengers.

What do we know about these crashes?
Between 1999 - 2003 around 175 motorcycle riders were killed or seriously injured each year and of these:

• 90% were male
• 23% of deaths and 11% of serious injuries had a blood alcohol level of .05 or above
• 31% occurred on roads sign posted at 100 km/h or more
• 4% were not wearing a helmet
• 52% of serious casualties occurred in the metropolitan region of Adelaide
• 37% of serious casualties occurred on Saturday and Sunday
• 23% hit a fixed object.

Risk-taking behaviours linked to crashes
Motorcycle riders are much more likely to have been involved in risky behaviour at the time of the crash than other drivers.

A national survey of fatal crashes in 1998 -1999 found:

• 27% were over the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.5
• 45% were speeding or driving too fast for conditions
• 21% were unlicensed or held the wrong licence.

Age
Although the older rider group aged 40 years and over had fewer serious casualties compared to the 26-39 age group, the number of serious casualties among older riders has increased significantly over the last 10 years.

Figure 3: Motorcycle rider serious casualties by age, South Australia, 1993-2003

Findings from 2003:

• deaths of older riders were 33% of all motorcycle rider deaths compared to 12% in 1999
• 45% of serious casualties were among riders 26 to 39 years
• 23% of serious casualties were among riders 16 to 25 years.

National research suggests that there are fewer younger riders, riding fewer kilometres each year compared to riders aged over 25 years, and that their crash involvement has fallen proportionally.

Pillion passengers
On average there are 14 pillion passengers killed or seriously injured each year. The risk of a rider being killed or injured doubles if they are carrying a pillion passengers and this occurred across all ages, not just young riders.

Licences
Unlicensed riders who have never had a licence, allowed it to lapse or were disqualified from riding account for 12% of all riders killed and 8% of all riders seriously injured – much higher than for car drivers at 1%.

4% of riders killed or seriously injured hold a learners permit compared with1% of car drivers.

5% hold a probationary or provisional licence compared with 15% of drivers.

Comparison with other states
In 2003, motorcycle riders and pillion passengers accounted for 8.3% of all road deaths in South Australia. This compares with other states such as Victoria at 12%, NSW at 11%, Queensland at 14% and Western Australia at 13%.

Figure 2 – Motorcycle fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles, 2003

South Australia has one of the lower fatality rates - nearly equal to the average fatality rate for Australia.

Other Important Information
ATSB Road Safety in Australia