A Port Kembla man has suffered horrifying injuries in the region’s fourth serious motorcycle accident in three days.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The man was riding south on the Ilawarra Highway at Tongarra Sunday morning when he reportedly went to overtake two cars.
Sydney man Andrew Fairclough, who was visiting the nearby Greenvalleys Mountain Bike Park with his son, was among a group of parents who witnessed the rider come unstuck.
“He flew through the air … it happened right in front of us.”
“We all looked, because you could hear him accelerating,” he said.
“The first car he went to overtake pulled out to overtake at the same time. He skidded across the road about 100 metres, went into the gravel on the righthand side, lost control then hit a guardrail.
“He flew through the air … it happened right in front of us.”
Read more: Three motorbike crashes in three hours
The man came to rest beside the opening to culvert, where bystanders led the first aid effort.
“His right shoulder was severed,” Mr Fairclough said. “He had a compound fracture on his leg. We bandaged it up. A couple of people came with first aid kits. I thought he’d lost his arm. He was in a really bad way.”
The man was wearing full riding leathers and a helmet.
A NSW Ambulance rescue chopper landed at the bike park. Paramedics spent almost two hours stablising him before he was airlifted to St George Hospital, where he remained on Monday in a serious but stable condition.
NSW Ambulance Inspector Norm Rees said the man’s injuries included a partially amputated right arm, a fractured left arm, chest injuries and multiple lower limb fractures. “Initially he was coherent but his condition progressively declined,” he said. “He sustained a number of serious injuries. By the time you do your arm, chest and lower legs, there wasn’t too much that wasn’t affected.
“It’s now up to what they find on X-rays, and what the surgeons can do.”
Three motorcyclists were seriously injured in as many hours on Friday, each requiring retrieval by emergency chopper.
An 18-year-old pillion passenger suffered serious head and facial injuries when the first of the bikes came unstuck on Lake Entrance Road at Oak Flats, shortly after 1pm. A rider was seriously injured in a collision with a truck on Jamberoo Mountain Road at Jamberoo, about 1.55pm before a third male rider, aged 29, collided with a tree at Worrigee near Nowra, about 3.20pm.
Authorities say accidents involving motorcycles are on the rise. ”Moving into the warming months, it attracts more bike riders,” Insp Rees said.
“Ride safe, be aware of your surroundings, be aware of other drivers.”