Fourth motorcyclist killed in less than two weeks in Northland

A police have reminded road users — both on and sharing the road with motorbikes — to take extra care.

A fatal collision between a motorbike and car in Ruakākā on Thursday evening was the fourth death of a motorcyclist in less than two weeks.

Emergency services responded to reports of a serious crash at the intersection of Marsden Point Rd and State Highway 1 shortly after 6pm.

Around two hours later police made the tragic announcement that the motorcyclist had died.

A spokesman for St John confirmed paramedics treated no other patients at the crash scene.

The road reopened to traffic about 10.30pm after the Serious Crash Unit completed a scene investigation.

Police appealed to anyone who had witnessed the crash to come forward by calling the non-emergency police number 105 and quoting file number 210416/8531.

Thursday's crash was the third motorbike fatality in 13 days in Northland and followed a serious crash earlier that morning in Doubtless Bay.

In that incident a seriously injured motorcyclist was flown to Middlemore Hospital in Auckland after colliding with a car on State Highway 10 near Coopers Beach around 9am.

And on Sunday a missing 54-year-old man from the Mid-North on a motorcycle ride with a friend was discovered to have left Kaitaia-Awaroa Rd at a right-hand bend, travelled down a bank and through a fence before coming to rest in trees about 6m below the road.

The crash occurred about 150m north of Dysart Rd on the south side of Herekino Gorge.

He had been travelling with another rider, who raised the alarm when his companion failed to show up on the north side of the gorge.

An eagle-eyed police officer found the deceased man after spotting faint tyre tracks in pine needles beside the road around 8.30pm.

The 1730cc cruiser involved in Sunday's accident had been designed with long straight roads in mind, not Northland's unforgiving, twisting roads.

The other fatal bike crashes this month occurred at Te Kao on April 4 and Tutukaka on April 1.

A police spokesman said all four fatalities were still being investigated but reminded road users — both on motorbikes and sharing the road with motorbikes — to take extra care.

Northland's road toll stands at 11 with April 2021 currently recording two fatalities more than the same month last year.