By JESSE GRAHAM
A MOTORBIKE rider travelling through the valley was taken to hospital on Thursday afternoon with a broken leg after coming off a slippery patch of road.
The rider, a 29-year-old Seaholme man, was driving his motorbike on Don Road towards Healesville at 10.50am on Thursday 12 May when he slid off the road on a corner.
The man was trapped down an embankment near his bike until shortly after noon.
Paramedics treated him before he was winched out and carried to a waiting ambulance.
Yarra Valley Gas owner Michael Alexandrou arrived with a truck-crane and winched the man and his motorbike back up to the road.
Healesville Leading Senior constable Chris Hickey said the man suffered an “extremely badly broken leg” – a compound fracture in his left leg.
The motorbike appeared muddy, but largely unscathed from the incident.
The road was wet at the time of the crash and Leading Sen Const Hickey said that tree bark on the corner may have contributed to the bike sliding off the road.
“Coming down the hill, he’s just locked the back tyre up,” he said.
While Leading Sen Const Hickey said the driver was not at fault, he urged drivers to travel according to their conditions with the recent wet weather.
“Drive to the conditions – people just don’t do it,” he said.
The rider was taken to Maroondah Hospital by ambulance.
