Norfolk County and Gray Bruce County have experienced the most motorcycle fatalities in Ontario this year, Ontario Provincial Police say.
Figures released Thursday show there have been 12 fatal motorcycle collisions in West Region to date in 2022. Of those, three have occurred in Norfolk County while another three took place in Gray Bruce.
The figures were released at a Thursday press conference as West Region OPP issued a safety advisory in response to the growing number of motorcycle fatalities. The 12 fatal collisions so far this year is up from seven for the same time period in 2021.
“As you can see, we have a problem with deadly consequences,” said Insp. Shawn Johnson of OPP West Region’s traffic and marine unit.
West Region OPP includes 13 detachments and covers an area stretching from the Windsor-Detroit border to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula across the shore of Lake Erie through Haldimand and nearly to Cambridge. The region covers 60,565-square-kilometres and is home to 775,000 people.
The population expands to about 900,000 during the summer months as much of the area is in a tourist region and has many part-time residents.
At Thursday’s press conference, OPP said the motorcycle operator has been at-fault in more than 70 per cent of all fatal collisions in West Region so far this year.
All 12 of the region’s fatal bike crashes were deemed preventable, happening “in clear, sunny, dry” conditions, Johnson said.
Police are urging riders to protect themselves by ensuring that road intersections are clear of traffic before proceeding, wearing bright protective gear, and enrolling in a Ministry of Transport-approved motorcycle safety training program.
“Motorcyclists are far more vulnerable to serious injury or death in a collision than drivers in passenger vehicles or trucks,” Johnson said. “That’s why it’s so important that motorcyclists make their safety a priority through safe, defensive driving.”
The three fatal motorcycle collisions in Norfolk include the death of a Haldimand County man who died when the motorcycle he was operating was in a collision with a sports utility vehicle at the Cockshutt Road and St. John’s Road East near Port Dover on June 14.
A 65-year-old Oakland, ON man died in a two-vehicle collision near Port Dover on May 13. The motorcycle was traveling north on Blueline Road when it collided with another vehicle heading west on St. John’s Road shortly after 1 pm
As well, a 60-year-old Norfolk County man died June 17 when his motorcycle was in a collision with a pickup truck at Cockshutt Road and Thompson Road East.
In Brant, a 40-year-old Brant County man died in a three-vehicle collision on Highway 403 at Wayne Gretzky Parkway on July 15.
The collision was one of two OPPs were called to on Highway 403 on the morning of July 15. The other took place on Highway 403 just east of Jerseyville Road after a motorcycle left the highway. The driver was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
There have not been any fatal collisions involving motorcycles in Haldimand County so far this year.
However, Haldimand OPP, fire and EMS were called to a collision on Highway 3 between Dunnville Townline Road and Darling Road on July 3. A motorcycle, which included a passenger, was in a collision with a vehicle and police say the motorcycle operator suffered life – altering injuries.
There have been seven personal injury collisions involving motorcycles in Norfolk so far this year, four in Haldimand County and two in Brant.
In nearby Norwich Township, Oxford County OPP were called to a head-on fatal motorcycle-pickup truck collision on July 2 on Gunns Hill Road. The driver of the motorcycle was identified as a Cambridge resident.
In some of these incidents drivers of the motor vehicles are facing charges.
Over the last decade, half of Ontario motorbike fatalities involved riders aged 45 to 64, and 87 per cent of those killed were men. In this region, men aged 56 to 64 have made up nearly a third of this year’s motorcycle deaths.
“We are not talking about stereotypical, risk-taking young riders on a racing bike,” Johnson said.
Speeding, loss of control and failing to yield at intersections are among the leading causes of this year’s crashes, Johnson said.
That so many fatalities are being attributed to motorcyclists suggests they may be riding beyond their skill level or not defensively enough, said Michael Harrison, a Fanshawe College motorcycle instructor.
“If they’re getting killed at intersections or by people coming in from side streets. . . then they are not scanning properly,” he said. “They are not taking the proper precautions.”
Besides wearing proper riding gear, defensive riding is motorcyclists’ best protection, given the consequences are more severe for riders than car drivers in a crash, Harrison said.
“We don’t have airbags, we don’t have collapsing frames that are going to protect you,” he said. “The only protection you have is yourself.”
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