Motorists are being urged to adopt the "look twice" approach, following the death of six motorcyclists on New Zealand roads in just a fortnight.
The latest was a motorcycle crash that killed two people on Christchurch's Dyers Pass Road on Sunday evening.
So far there's been 45 motorcycle fatalities this year, and 4000 accidents.
"Over 40s [are] most likely to be involved in fatal crashes," ACC spokesperson David Keilty told Newshub. "They're out on rural roads, and so they're travelling at speed, on big bikes and when things go wrong, they go wrong quickly and quite badly."
The spike in recent weeks is due to those who don't ride during winter, but dust off the leathers come spring.
"What we're probably seeing is a bit of rust in their skills, so they wouldn't have been riding for a while and they're getting back out on the road and making some fundamental mistakes," Keilty said.
Duncan Seeds runs a driving school helping bikers of all levels to upskill, and his advice for every motorcyclist was simple.
"Check themselves, check their bikes and check their gear and think about where they're going to be riding, and what some of the risks are going to be on that journey," Seeds told Newshub.
Meanwhile, motorists are urged to "look twice" for easily hidden bikers.
"They need to be aware of the blindspots on their vehicle," Keilty said.
Newshub.
