Man dies in motorcycle crash, two hurt

A man is dead and two people are critically injured after two motorcycles collided
head-on on a notorious, windy section of the Maroondah Highway east of Melbourne.

The motorcycles collided on a slight bend on the Black Spur at Fernshaw, between
Healesville and Narbethong, about 3pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, police said.
A 37-year-old Mooroolbark man died at the scene. His passenger, a 34-year-old
Mooroolbark woman, was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with
life-threatening injuries.
The rider of the other motorbike, a man in his 30s from Ivanhoe, was taken to the
Maroondah Hospital in a critical condition.
The narrow, winding road passes over the Black Spur, at the top of the Great
Dividing Range, through towering mountain ash forest and lush tree ferns in the
Yarra Ranges National Park.
The road is popular with motorcyclists but notorious among local emergency services
because of a high rate of motorcycle accidents.
Major collisions police will prepare a report for the coroner.
The fatality took Victoria's annual road toll to 11, four more than at the same time
last year.
Meanwhile, a trail bike rider was killed in a crash on a private road at Melton
West, in Melbourne's west, shortly before 2pm on Wednesday.
The man lost control of his Honda on a bend in an access road near the Woodgrove
Shopping Centre car park and struck a pole, police said.
No one else was involved in the crash.
He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he later died.
Police are investigating but say the fatality will not count towards the road toll.