A total of 103 motorcyclists and their pillions never made it home alive last year, a toll that numbered one more than in 2006. This indicates that the roads have become no less dangerous for those who ride on two-wheelers.

Almost half of the 219 motorists who died on the roads last year were on motorbikes or scooters.

Considering that motorcycles make up only 18 per cent of the vehicles here, a disproportionate number of motorcyclists lost their lives.

And barely a month into this year, five more known deaths have occurred.

Bike fatalities remain a concern, said the Traffic Police at last week's briefing on the road traffic situation.

A police analysis of the numbers shed light on some patterns.

Those who had died were young. Nearly half, or 21 out of 46, of those who had died in the first half of last year were aged 24 or under, the Traffic Police told The Straits Times.

Twelve of the other deaths were of people aged 40 or older, with the remainder aged in between.

Nursing student Siti Hajjar Yaakub was among those who had died last year. She suffered head injuries after being flung from the skidding motorcycle on which she was riding pillion. She was 19.

The accident that claimed her life took place along the Tampines Expressway last October. It left her 22-year-old boyfriend screaming her name, but she was already dead.

Three months on, her eldest sister Seri Kartini Yaakub said that the family is still trying to come to terms with the loss.

The young age of those who had perished in motorcycle accidents last year revealed a potent mix of risk factors.

Such riders tend to speed, take risks and have a sense of invincibility. They also lack riding experience.

Dr Brian Yeo, a consultant psychiatrist at the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, identified young men as being most at risk. He said: 'For them, bike riding is not just a mode of transport from Point A to Point B. It's also an outward show of prowess among their friends, who also ride.'

In order to show off, these youth make illegal - and dangerous - modifications to their bikes. They install lights in unapproved colours or even mask them.

The Land Transport Authority has noted that those who ride illegally modified machines tend to be between 18 and 30.

The Traffic Police studied fatal bike accidents over a three-month period last year to pinpoint their causes and identify ways of bringing the grim numbers down.

It found that road tragedies bore the mark of errant bikers and drivers who did not: