Werner Detemple says riding is in his blood, quite literally.
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The leg he almost lost after a horrific motorcycle-versus-car collision when he was 18 years old was put back together with shrapnel and bitumen from the crash inside.
While he shares this morsel of his memory with humour, road safety is something he takes much more seriously.
He had been due to sit his car driving test that day when he was riding leisurely down Wyndham St at about 40km/h on his Suzuki RGV 250.
As he was cruising through the Wilmot Rd intersection, a little blue Corolla failed to give way and cleaned him up, breaking several bones in his leg, forcing a foot peg into one side of his ankle and out the other, and causing him to slide five metres along the unforgiving ground.
What followed was a six-month hospital stay, the first three in and out of consciousness, six surgeries, multiple skin grafts and lots of rehabilitation.
All that effort notwithstanding, he will never fully recover from the injury and still suffers pain now.
His brush with death, through no fault of his own, put him off riding for 18 years.
People have told him his accident was the catalyst for the installation of the traffic lights that control the flow of vehicles at the busy junction today.
Despite the improved safety measures, the corner is still notorious for collisions, which is why Mr Detemple and fellow riders from GV Social Riders say it’s of utmost importance both riders and drivers stay aware of their surroundings every time they ‘hit the road’ so that nobody ends up hitting the road.
October is Motorcycle Awareness Month and Victoria Police has released alarming figures about motorcyclist fatalities this year.
Fifty-two riders didn’t escape death as Mr Detemple did.
Fifty-two have lost their lives on the state’s roads in 2024, one shy of last year’s final tally of 53 on December 31.
At the same time last year, there had been 35 deaths and the five-year average sat at 32.8.
This year sees the highest number of motorcycle rider fatalities recorded between January and September in a decade.
A changing handful of GV Social Riders’ 228 members ride together each weekend, and the group said as the weather warmed up and the days got longer, so would its riding action and ride lengths.
Police are concerned that with more riders on the road and for longer, deaths will continue to climb.
October to December is traditionally considered the highest risk period for motorcycle trauma.
Even though the toll is usually lower during winter, there were more than twice as many rider deaths from June to August this year (17) compared to last winter’s eight fatalities.
As with the nature of Mr Detemple’s accident in the ’90s, police analysis showed the majority of accidents happened at intersections, and at least 60 per cent of fatal rider collisions involved multiple vehicles.
Failing to give way was cited as the most common factor in fatal rider collisions where the other party was at fault, while excessive speed has been identified as the major contributing factor where the rider was at fault.
GV Social Riders and Temperance Riders Motorcycle Club member Russell Smith said riders had just as much a responsibility to keep themselves and everyone else on the road safe as drivers did.
“It’s a two-way street, motorcyclists also have to be aware of cars,” the Tatura resident said.
“They don’t always see bikes, so we have to drive defensively, not aggressively, especially to the conditions of the roads.”
More than half of this year’s motorcycle fatalities were in 70 to 110km/h speed zones.
Thirty of this year’s deaths have been on metropolitan roads, up from 24 at the same time last year, while 22 were on regional roads, more than doubling the 10 recorded last year.
According to the police data, between noon and 6pm on weekends was the most common time fatal collisions happened, particularly in regional areas, which correlates with recreational riding activity.
Riders aged 18 to 25 represented the highest number of fatalities this year (16), followed by 11 deaths in the 36 to 45 age group and nine riders in the 26 to 35 age group who lost their lives.
More than 90 per cent of the deceased riders were men.
Police will ramp up enforcement for the next few months, prioritising motorcycle safety, in an attempt to reduce the rising figures.
There will be several on- and off-road operations in high-risk areas across the state, with police on the lookout for non-compliant riders and drivers who engage in dangerous driving behaviour that puts motorcyclists at risk.
“We’ll have an increased focus on rider safety through education and enforcement, but we’re asking all road users to consider how they can contribute to making our roads safer,” Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said.
“For motorists, that means watching out for motorcyclists, being present behind the wheel and aware of your surroundings.
“For motorcyclists, it means keeping yourself safe with the right protective gear and avoiding risky riding behaviour like excessive speeding.
“Now is not the time to be complacent — it’s up to all of us to do everything we can to prevent further motorcyclist deaths. Every rider death is one too many.”
Senior journalist