On Saturday afternoon motorcyclist Jamie Elbourne narrowly avoided becoming another tragic statistic.
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Heading west on Northcliffe Drive, Mr Elbourne entered the roundabout on the western side of the M1 in the middle lane, heading straight.
As he was exiting the roundabout, the car in the left hand lane started coming closer.
"I've had no choice but to grab my brake and find my horn," he said.
While the driver slowed down, they didn't stop, and Mr Elbourne found his foot trapped between his bike and the car.
Mr Elbourne managed to turn his bike so that he could detach himself without getting hit, and ended up in the shoulder next to the median strip.
"I turned around to see if he's following me to pull over, considering he hit me, [but] he's continued through the roundabout and taken off, up the exit back on to the highway going northbound," he said.
Having been on his bike for just over a year, Mr Elbourne has already had more than his fair share of close calls and near misses on Illawarra roads.
The 24-year-old leatherworker is on his learner plates and tries to avoid highways due to being speed limited, but said many drivers don't check for motorcyclists.
"I've had people go from one far side lane across two lanes and almost run me into a fence," he said.
"That was a little bit scary."
The past weeks have been a horror run for motorcyclists on Illawarra roads.
Since May 29, the Illawarra Mercury has reported on four major crashes involving motorcyclists, with one motorcyclist dead after a crash on the Illawarra Highway last Wednesday. Others have been left critically injured or in hospital.
Luckily, Mr Elbourne escaped with only minor pain and bruising to his foot, but this snapshot reveals that the state's roads have not been getting any safer for motorcyclists.
While injuries for car drivers have declined by half over the past 10 years, according to data from the Centre for Road Safety, motorcyclist injuries have declined by just a third, with around 1871 motorcyclists injured in 2021.
Fatality trends for motorcyclists tell a similar story, with 55 motorcyclists killed on NSW roads in 2022, inline with the ten year average of 67 motorcyclist deaths per year.
As not all crashes involved a collision with another driver, Mr Elbourne said that motorcyclist education courses, which are typically run over a two-day period, could do more to reduce the figure.
"They teach you the basics of how to start the bike, move, stop and change gears, but I'm not sure it's quite enough for emergency situations," he said.
The Transport for NSW Road Safety Strategy identifies improvements to the motorcycle graduated licensing scheme as part of its goal to eliminate road trauma by 2050, and highlights that motorcyclists are overrepresented in crash statistics.
Despite this, motorcyclist registrations continue to increase, with a two percent growth in motorcycle licences and four per cent rise in motorcycle registrations in NSW each year.
Whether for cost, convenience or adventure, motorcycles are an increasing presence on Illawarra roads, a different statistic that Mr Elbourne is happy to be a part of.
"The freedom of being on a bike and being able to feel the wind pushing against me, I find it relaxing, and freeing."
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