More training urged in wake of latest Edmonton motorcyclist death

CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa talks to members of the city's motorcycle community about the fatalities on city streets this year.

The organizer of an Edmonton motorcycle memorial group says more needs to be done to ensure new riders are ready to hit the road after the seventh motorcyclist death of 2025 last month on city streets.

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Cory Bacon, creator of Ride In Paradise Memorial Edmonton, set up his group’s latest memorial a few days ago at the north Edmonton intersection of 82 Street and 167 Avenue, where a 25-year-old man riding a motorcycle died in a crash on July 30.

Bacon installs so-called ghost bikes at sites where motorcycle riders have died and runs an online memorial page for victims.

“We didn’t think it would become as big as it has,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Friday. “We just started it as a small page just to help memorialize people.”

There have been seven fatal motorcycle crashes this year in Edmonton, already matching last year’s total.

Bacon, who has been riding motorcycles for 37 years, says more needs to be done to get riders ready for the road.

“When you get your licence, it’s just the very basics of how to operate a motorcycle,” he said. “There’s so much more that goes into riding than just getting your licence.”

Bacon believes there should be a mandatory mentorship program, a sentiment shared by Leeroy Victor, who started his business, Moto Instincts, to do just that.

“There needs to be a little bit more of a regimented system, or at the very least access to some sort of information or a way to gain experience, so that we don’t have the blind leading the blind,” he told CTV News Edmonton.

“This is not the type of environment or sport where this should be the norm.”

Victor helps people who have their Class 6 motorcycle driver’s licence feel more confident when behind the handlebars.

“The inception of Moto Instincts was to bridge the gap between learning how to actually ride and being a competent rider, with all the hard-knock-style learning in the middle that can happen,” he said.

“I had an accident and a few close calls when I was still learning, and it made me realize that you don’t know what you don’t know.”