Motorcycling safety

Motorcycling is a popular form of transport in Australia and worldwide. There are a wide range of reasons people choose to ride, including cost, practicality, thrill and adventure. Compared to light passenger vehicles, motorcycles are fuel and space-efficient and low-cost, making motorcycling the choice of many, and particularly in highly congested cities and low-income countries. Motorcyclists are identified as a vulnerable road user group in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. 

Over the period 2017-2023, annual motorcyclist fatalities have grown from 211 to 253, an increase of 20%. Total road fatalities also experienced slight growth over this time, increasing marginally by 3% from 1,223 in 2017 to 1,263 in 2023. Motorcyclist fatalities as a proportion of all road fatalities have increased by 3 percentage points over the same period.

Risk factors for motorcyclists

Age and sex

In 2023, males made up the vast majority of motorcyclist deaths, which is reflective of male riders generally making up a larger proportion of total motorcyclists on the road. For both males and females, the 40-64 age group reported the greatest number of deaths. 

Day of week and time of day

This section defines the time of day as follows:

• 'Day' fatalities occurred between 6am and 6pm exclusive
• 'Night' fatalities occurred between 6pm and 6am exclusive
• 'Weekday' fatalities occurred between Monday 6am to Friday 6pm exclusive
• 'Weekend' fatalities occurred between Friday 6pm to Monday 6am exclusive

In 2023, there were 155 motorcyclist road deaths on the weekdays. The vast majority of these deaths occurred during the daytime (71%). This may be reflective of more motorcyclists commuting during peak hours in the workweek.

Location

Between 2017 and 2023, most motorcyclist deaths happened in major city remoteness areas, followed by inner and outer regional areas. These high fatalities likely reflect the increased exposure of motorcyclists in urban areas. Remoteness areas are defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Fatalities where the remoteness area is 'Unknown' have been removed from the chart, but are available in the table view. From 2022-2023, WA has provided location data at the end of each year, leading to the increase in ‘Unknown’. Updated location data for WA is expected to be available by the end of 2024. 

Definitions

Motorcyclist

Person riding a motorcycle or motorbike. This includes pillion passengers.

Motorcycle or Motorbike

2 or 3 wheeled motor vehicle used for carrying 1 or 2 people. Includes motor scooters, motor tricycles, motorcycles with sidecars, and mopeds.

Road crash

A crash reported to police resulting from the movement of at least one road vehicle on a public road and involving death or injury to any person, or threshold property damage, that is not the result of a pre-meditated act.

About the data

In 2017, the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) published Motorcycling Safety(Opens in a new tab/window), which explored key issues impacting the safety of motorcyclists in a road crash. This webpage updates some parts of the original publication and can be used alongside it.

Data for all figures, tables and charts are sourced from the Australian Road Deaths Database(Opens in a new tab/window) (ARDD) as at July 2024. The ARDD provides basic details of road traffic crash fatalities in Australia as reported by the police each month to the State and Territory road safety authorities. 

Limitations

Road deaths from recent months are preliminary and are subject to revision.