A passionate motorcyclist who kept riding despite losing a leg in a train crash died after his bike veered off a rural Tasmanian road, a coroner has found.
Robert Bernhard Van Zelm, a Dutch-born motorcycle workshop owner from Ulverstone, was found dead alongside his Kawasaki motorcycle down an embankment on Paradise Road, south of Sheffield, on February 6, 2023.
Coroner Leigh Mackey said he suffered multiple fatal injuries to his head, neck, chest, spine and leg.
A dedicated member of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of Tasmania (VJMCT), Van Zelm had been taking part in a club ride the day before his body was discovered.
The group had set off from the Forth Pub, riding through Deloraine and stopping at the Great Lake Hotel. It was there that Van Zelm decided to break away from the main group.
Friends believe he chose to ride home at his own pace, with one witness recalling seeing him “just dawdling along, enjoying himself” near Union Bridge, the last time he was seen alive.
When Van Zelm didn’t answer his phone the next day, a concerned friend went to his home and found it locked, with all his vehicles present except his bike.
Retracing the club’s route, the friend eventually spotted Van Zelm’s motorcycle down an embankment, with him still on it.
Van Zelm’s riding style had been adapted following a life-changing incident in his mid-twenties when a collision with a train at a railway crossing resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee.
Coroner Mackey said Van Zelm’s love of motorcycles never wavered, even after a life-altering crash in his mid-twenties.
A collision with a train at a railway crossing resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee, but he adapted his riding style, using his left hand to change gears.
Despite a thorough investigation, the exact cause of the crash could not be determined.
Mackey noted that the Kentish Council had repaired a cracked section of Union Bridge Road near the crash site following the incident.
“Both these matters, the cracked road surface and the method of changing gears, could have caused instability in the Kawasaki resulting in it leaving the road,” Mackey said.
