E-bike crash victim remembered as ‘larger than life personality’

A teenage boy is dead and another seriously injured after an e-bike they were riding ran a red light and hit two cars in Melbourne’s outer north-east on Wednesday.

Max Foster, 15, was a passenger on the bike when it crashed on the corner of Findon and Plenty roads in South Morang at 5.30pm on Wednesday. He was treated for his injuries but died at the scene.

Road Policing Acting Assistant Commissioner Justin Goldsmith said the teen wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time.

The collision also badly injured Max’s 17-year-old friend who was behind the handlebars of the e-bike, but who was wearing a helmet. As of Thursday evening, he remains at the Austin Hospital in a serious but stable condition with lower-body injuries.

After the e-bike hit the car, it then ran into a second car, police said. Both motorists stopped at the scene.

In a social media post, which has since been removed, The Lakes South Morang College said Foster was a valued member of the community.

“His passing is a heartbreaking loss for us all,” the post said.

“Max was a larger than life personality, who endeared us with his warmth, humour, positivity and embraced us with a charm and smile that will always be unmistakably Max. Forever in our hearts.”

Foster’s friends, Luca Nogarotto and Jacob Al Mansouri, said their mate was a “kind-hearted kid, never selfish and always thinking about other people”.

“He was a good kid at heart, who just got into an accident. Wrong time wrong place,” Nogarotto said.

“Forever 15. I just miss him.”

They said they knew riding the bikes was illegal, and said they were “done with it now” after hearing the news of Foster’s passing.

“I wanted one [an e-bike] but [my dad] never let me get one,” Nogarotto said, “but I can see why, the damage it can cause and how serious it really is. Now since I’ve lost a friend now, who was like one of my best mates, like a brother to me, I truly believe e-bikes are fun but no one should be on them.”

Acting Assistant Commissioner Goldsmith said the injured boy would be interviewed after his discharge from hospital, and potentially faced serious charges, including culpable driving and dangerous riding causing death.

Goldsmith also said the injured boy was unlicensed, and that the prevalence of e-bikes was a nationwide issue, adding that police stations were inundated with calls about “ride-outs where they’re riding in mass numbers” across the state.

“It was an illegal motorcycle that is incapable of being registered in Victoria because it doesn’t fit the safety category to be registered in Victoria,” he said. “[It] is capable of going 90km/h, and it’s in the hands of children, and there are, unfortunately, a lot of them on the market.”

In Victoria, a bike with a motor must have working pedals and a maximum power output of 250 watts (not capable of exceeding 25km/h) to be considered legal. Goldsmith said the bike involved in the South Morang crash had its pedals removed.

“They’re being imported from other countries quite often [and] they don’t fit the criteria to be registered in Victoria,” he said. “And certainly since the COVID lockdown years, the growth has been enormous.”

Goldsmith said the state government was looking at beefing up laws around e-bikes. Spring Street began restricting converted e-bikes on trains and within ticketed areas after a review last year.

Shara Brown, whose teenage son Noah was a friend of Foster’s, said they’d been on the phone chatting in the hours before the crash.

“Everyone has to make mistakes, even at our age, to learn by them,” she said. “These kids made a mistake, and now [Max] doesn’t get to learn from that. He doesn’t.

“I feel so awful for his mother, who now just doesn’t get to see him again. It’s just shattering.”

The prevalence of e-bikes also prompted NSW and Queensland to consider stricter regulations. But Goldsmith said new laws and their enforcement could only go so far in curbing the problem, and parents had an equally significant part to play.

“If it is a motorcycle that is unregistered, we can absolutely enforce. But the sheer volumes make it really difficult for Victoria Police to get a handle on it,” Goldsmith said.

“I would ask all parents to be vigilant about the fact that this is not a fun toy. Some of these modified motorcycles, and the ones that cannot be registered for safety reasons, pose an enormous risk to their children. But you can avoid it.”

City of Whittlesea mayor Lawrie Cox said the phenomenon of kids on unregistered bikes without helmets “playing chicken with cars” was becoming increasingly common in the area.

“We’re sincerely wishing the family our condolences for the loss of their child,” he said, adding that before Wednesday he had heard of injuries to animals and people in the area when bikes were ridden too fast on footpaths.

The road policing operation across the Anzac Day weekend will be the third high-visibility operation police have undertaken in April.

“Despite having a strong presence throughout the month of April, unfortunately, we’re in the middle of a significant road trauma spike, and unfortunately and tragically, we’ve had 14 lives lost in the last 11 days,” Goldsmith said.

There have been 82 lives lost on Victorian roads in 2026.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, with footage or information, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or anonymously at crimestoppersvic.com.au.

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