Motorcycle theft plummets in pandemic

Thefts dropped from 9680 to 8059 in 2020 which was the biggest decrease in the two decades since the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council began collecting statistics.

This is largely due to the COVID lockdown and riders being unable to ride their bikes, so they were locked away in garages.

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The 2020 motorcycle theft trend reflects a drop in all motor vehicle thefts across the nation of 15%.

Profit-motivated theft by professionals where the bikes are usually not recovered dropped 12.1% from 4633 to 4072, which was the biggest decrease in any category of vehicles.

But it appears the lockdown had an even bigger impact on short-term theft for joy rides or to use vehicles for other crimes where bikes are later recovered with these thefts down 21% from 5047 to 3987.

The trend varied across the nation with the biggest drop in numbers in Western Australia.

Surprisingly, Victoria recorded the lowest drop in thefts despite the fact that it suffered the longest periods of lockdown.