The death of the 53-year-old Gold Coast man, who was riding south on the M1 Friday afternoon near Hope Island, was the first road fatality on the Gold Coast for 2022 and followed 15 motorcycle deaths in the region last year.

Gold Coast Superintendent Geoff Sheldon said the incident came just hours after police launched an awareness campaign to curb motorcycle deaths after a state-wide surge last February.

Last year, 13 people on motorbikes were killed on Queensland roads in February. The 28-day toll made up 20 per cent of the state’s total motorcycle fatalities for the year.

“The grim fact is 13 people lost their lives in February 2021, so we want February 2022 to be considerably better than that,” Sheldon said.

“If we highlight what has happened, maybe we can shock someone or at least have them thinking about their riding and surviving on the road.”

Sheldon said 94 per cent of all motorcycle fatalities in Queensland last were men.

Half of the fatalities occurred between Friday night and Sunday.

“It’s a weekend thing where basically blokes jump on a bike and it ends up in tragedy,” Sheldon said.

“They’re quote sobering statistics. On 93 per cent of occasions, as in virtually every occasion, excessive speed for the conditions has been involved.

“So, what we’ve got is blokes on Friday to Sunday travelling too fast on motorbikes. That’s as blatant as it is.”

Sheldon said the rider caused the accident almost three quarters of the time.

“On 73 per cent of occasions, the rider was the one at fault. So, it’s not motorcycles being cleaned up when they can’t be seen, it’s actually they’re at fault and travelling too fast for the conditions.”

Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Ben Marcus said the analysis of the Queensland figures showed 68 per cent of the state’s motorcycle road fatalities were inexperienced riders.

He said an alarming 56 per cent were not wearing a helmet or had their helmet fitted incorrectly.