Motorcycle fatalities on the rise, Toronto police say
Posted April 11, 2014 7:36 am.
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The onset of warmer weather means there will be a lot more motorcycles on the road, and police said they are expecting to see more motorcycle crashes.
In the past four years, Toronto police’s Traffic Services said officers have seen the number of motorcycle fatalities rise from one in 2010 to seven in 2013 — representing a substantial upward trend.
According to police, the primary causes of these fatalities have been speed, driver inexperience, and motorcycles too powerful for the rider to control.
Residents who live near the Don Valley Parkway have already started calling police about the noise of the motorcycles “ramping” (doing laps on the DVP on and off ramps), as well as pack riding at extreme speeds.
Police said these types of driving behaviours are common practice as the weather gets better and more motorcycles return to the road.
There has already been two serious motorcycle crashes in Toronto this week, but fortunately, neither was fatal.
In one incident, the 29-year-old driver of a motorcycle was travelling near Yonge Street and Pleasant Boulevard on Sunday when he struck a car and was thrown from the bike. The unmanned bike then struck a 67-year-old pedestrian who was walking on the sidewalk. She suffered serious injuries.