Abigail Anderson lost her 19-year-old brother Nathan in a motorcycle crash. Now, she’s sharing his story in the hope other young people make it home.
One of Abigail Anderson’s favourite memories of her younger brother begins about 2am.
She’d just arrived home after a night out to find Nathan still up playing video games.
“He put down the controller and we both just started gossiping,” she says. “He was your typical troublemaker, mischievous little brother, so we were just talking crap, basically.
“We fell asleep on the sofa together, and I’ve got a video of us both waking up really groggy at five o’clock in the morning. We’d fallen asleep with all the lights on. We’d just lose track of time together.”
Two months later, 19-year-old Nathan was killed in a motorcycle crash.
Now Abigail, 25, tells stories like that one to rooms full of young people as SAPOL’s Road Safety Ambassador.
“I want Nathan to feel like a real person because he is,” she says. “I want people to think about him, to think about his actions on the road, and to maybe make different actions that won’t result in the same way for them.”
‘We were each other’s best friends’
The Andersons moved to South Australia from England when the pair were young, which Abigail reckons helped keep them close.
“We just had each other,” she says. “We were each other’s best friends.”
They shared a bunk bed as kids, and Abigail wasn’t always the innocent older sibling.
“Sometimes, I would write his name on the walls with my non-dominant hand and get him into trouble for doing it,” she says.
“I miss having my partner in crime. So if I can tell his story instead, that’s the next best thing.”
‘He’d done everything right’
When Nathan decided he wanted a motorbike, Abigail was the first person he told. She helped him research it and get to his courses before he surprised their parents.
By 19, he was two years into an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic and had his dream bike.
“He had a career ahead, everything set up for him,” Abigail says. “He was so pleased with himself.”
Nathan had deliberately learnt to drive a car first, spending years building experience before getting his motorcycle learner permit. Four weeks later, he was dead.
“He’d done everything right,” Abigail says.
The knock at the door
On the evening of 10 October 2024, Abigail was outside playing with the family’s new Doberman puppy when two police officers came to the door.
“They asked me if somebody lived here who owned a white or a red bike,” she says. “I said, ‘Yep, my little brother Nathan owns a white bike.’“
They couldn’t tell her anything more because she wasn’t Nathan’s next of kin.
The family had put Life360 on their phones when Nathan got the bike. Abigail rang her mum and they both opened the app.
“We could see that he was doing zero kilometres in the middle of the expressway,” she says.
“That was all we needed to know.”
Abigail drove towards his location and found the road closed. Her mum searched Facebook for information and found a post about the crash.
“It had a photo of my brother’s body in a body bag,” Abigail says. “That was how she found out about his death.”
At almost the same moment, an officer sat in Abigail’s car and told her what had happened.
Nathan’s friends, who could also see his stopped location on Life360, had arrived too.
“I shared the news with them, so we had a bit of a moment all together,” she says. “The rest of that night was just a blur, alerting family members and telling people what had happened.”
That was particularly hard because the rest of the family was in England, leaving Abigail and her parents to break the news of Nathan’s death over FaceTime and video calls.
Why she said yes
Nathan’s family donated his motorcycle to SAPOL’s Road Safety Centre at West Beach.
“Seeing what little impact it received, but knowing that Nathan received the full brunt of it, I think it’s such an impactful piece for young riders to see,” Abigail says.
The family still visits the bike regularly.
“We pop down to the road safety centre just to see Nathan’s bike and just to feel like we’re with him a little bit.”
Abigail volunteered with SAPOL for about a year before taking over the ambassador role from crash survivor Holly Scott.
Holly’s advice was to take the role at her own pace – important when every session means revisiting the worst night of Abigail’s life.
“There is really no escape from Nathan’s story,” she says. “It can be overwhelming bringing up that same night over and over again. But I know that it’s for a good cause.”
Drive to your own capabilities
Abigail now speaks alongside SAPOL officers at sessions across the state for students in Year 10 and above who are learning to drive or about to start.
The family understands Nathan had been riding behind someone with about 15 years more motorcycle experience and was overtaking a car when he mis-navigated.
“Nathan had his P2s in his car, so he was educated on the roads. He knew all of the road rules,” she says. “It was just that he was following somebody that had more experience than him, that could navigate better.
“So a lot of my story is about driving to your own capabilities. Don’t exceed what you’re comfortable doing. Know what your limitations are.”
Abigail also stresses that the consequences also reach far beyond the person involved in a crash.
“It’s about everybody’s safety, not just your own,” she says. “It’s not just the families; it’s the people that attend the scene, the paramedics that have to help put the pieces back together.”
It can happen to anybody
Young people remain overrepresented in South Australia’s road toll. People aged 16-24 make up around 11 per cent of the state’s population but account for 19 per cent of lives lost on the road. Motorcyclists represent 17 per cent of road deaths despite making up only four per cent of registered vehicles.
Abigail’s message for riders – and drivers – Nathan’s age is to understand the danger and just be more careful.
“Be safe and be considerate. Consider your own capabilities,” she says.
“Don’t follow some of the other idiots on the road because you think what they’re doing is cool. Do what you know you’re capable of and what is within your skill set.
“It can happen to anybody. It’s such a split-second impact. It gets said a million times over, but it never hits more personally than when it comes from a story like this.”
Learn more about the THINK! Road Safety campaign here.
Abigail is a SAPOL Road Safety Ambassador available to speak at the Road Safety Section’s road safety sessions across the state. For more information you can contact SAPOL’s Road Safety Section.
