3 months ago
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On a gorgeous January morning in 2024, Nitin Prabhu dressed in a short-sleeved shirt his wife had bought him from a recent trip to India, clipped on his bicycle helmet and rode his new e-bike from his Balwyn home to his Docklands office.
His wife watched as the skilled cyclist pedalled into the distance.
Nitin Prabhu died after an e-bike accident in 2024. His wife wants the tragedy to lead to reform.
“He was looking so good that day, he was looking radiant,” his wife, who asked for her name to be withheld for privacy concerns, told The Age. “I was standing out and looking at him, and I saw him riding on the road. That’s the last I saw.”
About 6.30pm that day while cycling home, Prabhu and another rider – described in findings by coroner Audrey Jamieson as riding “aggressively” – collided. Prabhu’s family strongly believes the other rider’s behaviour caused the crash, though no charges have been laid.
Prabhu, pictured with a cup his daughter made, was remembered as a loving, generous man.
Prabhu was thrown to the ground and his head struck the bitumen. He was two minutes away from home.
Instead, the 41-year-old was rushed to hospital and became one of a growing number of Australians injured or killed in an e-bike accident.
Over the past five years, Victoria has recorded a 627 per cent increase in e-bike injuries, according to data from Monash University’s Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit. Last year, there were 400 emergency department visits for e-bike-related injuries.
“I kept begging the doctors to save the life of the most important person in our lives,” Prabhu’s wife said.
In death, Prabhu has saved lives – his organs were donated to more than a dozen people – but his wife hopes his accident can be a catalyst for change and prevent similar fatalities.
After the Coroners Court this month released Jamieson’s findings into Prabhu’s death, his wife has joined bicycle industry groups and state governments in calling for stronger e-bike regulations as more Australians die and suffer serious injuries linked to these vehicles.
“I hope with his death, at least some other lives are saved,” his wife said.
Jamieson’s report revealed that Prabhu’s bike – equipped with a 250-watt motor and a top speed of 32km/h – exceeded the legal limits for unregistered e-bikes in Victoria, where anything more powerful than 200 watts or capable of exceeding 25km/h must be classified as a motorbike.
Prabhu was unaware the e-bike he bought was illegal to ride on the road.
But Prabhu, who bought the bike from a Brunswick retailer days earlier, had no idea he was technically breaking the law, his wife said.
“How will buyers know it’s not legal?” she said, frustrated at the lack of public awareness and clarity over e-bike laws.
Powerful, high-speed e-bikes are legal to import and sell in Australia, but not to ride on public roads.
On Tuesday, The Age reported that the Victorian and NSW transport ministers raised the discrepancy in a recent letter to the Commonwealth.
“High-speed and dangerous personal mobility devices are … freely imported and sold by retailers, often with a vague ‘fine print’ disclaimer that purchasers should check local laws before using the device,” the letter said.
Jamieson said in her findings: “I consider it feasible that, at present, a substantial number of e-bicycles across Victoria are in fact, unregistered motorcycles – likely unbeknownst to their riders.
“Prabhu’s death is a tragic reminder of the importance for greater regulations of e-bicycles and I hope that with a concerted effort, such fatalities may be avoided in the future.”
The state ministers want the Commonwealth to implement product safety standards to prohibit the sale of dangerous bikes and strengthen import laws. They highlighted a loophole where high-powered bikes, exceeding legal limits, are falsely imported as e-bikes to bypass permit requirements.
Prabhu’s wife said she would support any changes that help save lives. But no policy reform can bring back the man she lost – a devoted husband and father whose absence has left a void for both her and their teenage daughter, who started secondary school days after her father’s accident.
“He was a very kind and generous person,” his wife said. “Losing him like this, so suddenly and so senselessly, is something I don’t think I’ll ever fully come to terms with.”
Prabhu regularly volunteered, donated blood and even set up trust funds for underprivileged children in his hometown in southern India, before he and his wife moved to Australia in 2008.
On the first anniversary of Prabhu’s death, his wife left a bouquet of flowers on place where he fell.
And more than a year on from the crash, she still visits that solemn stretch of road and watches the passing cyclists, cringing at their speed.
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