Community mourns teen ‘daredevil’ and mate killed in horror motorbike crash

William Drake, described by his brother as a bike-loving “daredevil”, had to be going very fast when he was killed.

The 15-year-old was riding a petrol-powered trail bike, which resembles a mini-dirt bike, when he and his 14-year-old passenger Adrian Lai collided with a commuter bus at an intersection on the Liverpool Parramatta T-way in Bossley Park on Monday night.

“He loved bikes, he loved everything,” said his brother, who wished to remain anonymous, standing beside a makeshift memorial that was already surrounded by flowers.

“He was a little daredevil, he was popular in school and loved a joke. We are all feeling quite devastated, and I feel lost without him.”

Drake lived in a house across the road from crash site, with many members of his family making the short walk to pay their respects.

A sign reading “RIP Boys” was placed amidst a makeshift memorial, and a steady stream of young men arrived bearing flowers and drinking bottles of Red Bull. One of Drake’s friends said the collision wasn’t the result of a dangerous part of the T-way, but was “an accident”.

It reflected the mood among the young men, some of whom arrived by riding their bikes on the T-way where Drake died. Among them wasn’t a sense of denial but a sense of defiance, rejecting suggestions that their hobby created this tragedy.

On social media many of the tributes to the boys included footage of them doing wheelies and tricks on the T-way, or pictures of them on their bikes.

“Rest easy, you will forever be missed,” the caption of one of the videos posted on TikTok read.

On first inspection, it becomes clear why Drake and his friends might have been tempted to speed at that location: the T-way is a long, flat piece of road, occupied almost solely by buses.

It’s also long enough and wide enough that bikes can snake their way around the buses, forming an enticing obstacle course.

But it is also an essential transport artery for this part of Sydney, connecting the south-west with the CBD and Parramatta, and it can get very busy, with the dedicated bus route used by more than 43,000 passengers each week.

The collision occurred on a section of the T-way adjacent to Wheller Street, about 100 metres from Restwell Road. Drake and Lai were hit by a bus making a U-turn at the intersection at around 7:15pm, with the bike becoming trapped underneath. Both boys were treated by paramedics but died at the scene.

It was the middle of peak hour, but that didn’t seem to deter Drake. Neighbours said he was riding the trail bike up and down the T-way up to half an hour before he was struck.

From e-bikes to pushbikes and trail bikes, locals said the spot was a magnet for young people who could not resist the stretch of road sometimes empty for 10 minutes or more during off-peak periods.

The kids who ride along the T-way are known to attempt tricks and ride dangerously. One group was said to ride directly at buses, before swerving away at the last second.

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said the T-way has been a source of concern for residents for some time, following another incident in February when two boys were hit by an e-bike.

“My thoughts and prayers are with those who were hurt, and I sincerely hope they are OK,” Carbone wrote on Facebook shortly after the incident.

The tragedy comes as the NSW government is set to introduce new e-bike laws to parliament, which will give NSW Police and Transport for NSW new powers to seize and crush illegally modified e-bikes.

It is illegal for children to ride motorcycles in NSW. Learner riders must be at least 16 and nine months old.

Mandy, one of Drake’s neighbours, said the teenager would take his bike “up and down the road”.

“He was taking his bike and doing wheelies every day. You could hear him opening his gate, revving his bike, and then off he goes. Sometimes he’d be out at night as well, going out at nine or midnight.”

Ameliana Smith also attended to pay her respects. A local who parks on the street and takes the bus into work, she knew the dangers of that section of the T-way intimately.

“The kids treat it as some sort of roadway they can use. They’re not among cars, and that’s what I think makes it most dangerous. It’s just kids on bikes and buses, and some of them come through here and are reckless, but some are just here to have fun.”

She pointed out that many use it as a makeshift bike lane since none exist in the region, and riding along the T-way would probably be safer than the roads.

“The dangers are really down to visibility and general safety. For somewhere like this spot, it has to come down to the parents – they know their kids are riding around here – because their behaviour is dangerous to them and to pedestrians.”

Questions have been raised over how the two teens had access to the trail bike. Detective Superintendent Craig Middleton said this would be investigated, and that police were well aware of illegal bike riding on the T-way.

“We have had a number of issues around the illegal use of the T-way, whether it’s trail bikes or other vehicles,” Middleton said.

“We’ve conducted a number of operations with highway patrol in the past, and a number of trail bikes and other bikes were seized.”

He claimed it was a tragic accident and that highway patrol were “vigilant” in keeping watch.

“But unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere all the time.”

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