Warning as 18 bikers killed or critically injured in Devon and Cornwall

A large number of motorcyclists have been in road traffic accidents involving deaths or critical injuries since February on Devon and Cornwall's roads.

The four months from February to May have seen 18 fatal or critical injury incidents in the region.

Devon and Cornwall Police highlighted the statistic as part of their Vision Zero partnership - which aims to cut road deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2040.

The latest example was a man in his 40s who was taken to hospital with serious injuries after a crash in Newton Abbot on Tuesday evening (May 24).

Motorcycles are vulnerable vehicles, leaving users particularly susceptible to injuries as they are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are.

They tend to be harder for drivers to see on the road.

Often the collisions are not caused by the motorcyclist, and charges are brought against other road users.

Despite this, motorcyclists are being encouraged to take further free road safety training after a string of fatalities on Devon and Cornwall's roads.

A couple on a motorbike were among those killed in recent months. They were driving on the A39 near Bude in April due to the drunk-driver of a van not being able to notice them.

Three men were also arrested on suspicion of murder after a motorcyclist died in a collision on the A38 in Plymouth after 59-year-old David Crawford from Ivybridge died while on a black Kawasaki motorbike on 12 May.

Last year 48 people were killed and 793 were seriously injured on the roads of Devon and Cornwall.

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