Police said a series of motorbike accidents had happened over the holiday weekend in different locations across Germany, leading to several fatalities. 

It came as new figures showed that more than one in five people killed on Germany's roads are motorcyclists, despite far fewer of them on the road compared with other drivers.

Of the 3,265 people who died on roads nationwide last year, 699 were motorcyclists, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

Spate of deadly crashes over the Easter weekend

In Posthausen, Lower Saxony on Good Friday, a 20-year-old woman motorcyclist died after colliding with a crash barrier.

At Kirchen in Rhineland-Palatinate, a 37-year-old biker was involved in a crash with oncoming traffic  on Saturday night and died at the scene, police said.

Meanwhile, in Essen, North-Rhine Westphalia, a 44-year-old motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash on Saturday.

At Geislingen, Baden-Württemberg, a 51-year-old lost control of his motorbike while overtaking a vehicle on Easter Sunday, according to police reports. He collided with the crash barrier. A rescue helicopter flew the biker to a clinic where he later died.

Near Rechberghausen, a 69-year-old biker was killed when he overtook a car with a trailer on a country road.

On Good Friday a motorcyclist had died in Schwanau, also Baden-Württemberg, when a 26-year-old who was driving a car collided head-on with a motorcycle while overtaking.

'Many underestimate demanding routes'

Police said speeding and a lack of knowledge of routes were often partly to blame for accidents involving motorbikes. 

“Many underestimate the long journey or the demanding routes,” a police spokesman said.

As reported by regional news site, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, and other German media outlets,the fatalities took place during a sunny Easter weekend across the country – weather which may have encouraged more motorcyclists out onto the roads. 

In Hesse’s Biebergemünd, a 48-year-old motorcyclist was involved in a crash over the weekend. He died at the scene. On Autobahn 3 near Frankfurt am Main, a 66-year-old biker crashed. He was taken to hospital but later died.

On Monday evening, a man died in an accident in the Kassel district between Schauenburg and Habichtswald. While trying to overtake a vehicle, the 61-year-old lost control and crashed into an oncoming car on Autobahn 44, police said.

Near Quedlinburg in Saxony-Anhalt, a biker collided head-on with a car and died at the scene of the accident.

A similar crash occurred near Elbingerode in the Harz Mountains on Saturday. According to the police, a motorcyclist drove into the oncoming lane at a right-hand bend and collided with a car. He died at the scene.

It comes after six people tragically died in motorbike crashes during the first weekend of April in North Rhine-Westphalia.