A young motorcyclist is begging all road users to consider the long-term impact of road-related trauma.

Twenty-six-year-old Poowong man Izaak Brain, lost his leg after being hit by a car allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road on the afternoon of February 16, 2020.

“I don’t think anyone can truly realise how every aspect of your life is touched after something like this,” Mr Brain said.

“You are never just impacting the person you hit.”

Izaak Brain was riding his motorbike home from a friend’s house in Poowong one afternoon; what was supposed to be a quick five-minute trip home soon turned disastrous.

The motorcyclist was travelling along the road he lived on when a four-wheel-drive driving on the wrong side of the road struck him, the collision flinging Mr Brain from his vehicle and onto the other side of the road.

Emergency services arrived at the scene, and the 26-year-old was administered pain relief and put into an induced coma.

Mr Brain was flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital and underwent emergency surgery for a spinal fusion and amputation of his left leg below the knee.

He was in a coma for a week and spent the next three months in the hospital.

“There’s nothing that can describe going to sleep with two legs and waking up with one of them amputated,” Mr Brain said.

It would take another month and a half of rehabilitation to gain the strength needed to receive a prosthetic.

“I spent time walking holding rails and learning to balance again, then using two walking sticks and eventually one,” Mr Brain said.

“I just wanted a sense of normality again.”

When Mr Brain was physically able to receive a prosthetic limb, he described a sense of relief.

“It was just a sense of relief that I could learn to walk again,” Mr Brain said.

“I couldn’t get over how lucky I was to begin to gain my independence back.”

On top of learning how to walk again, Mr Brain had to retake his driver’s test to drive with a prosthetic.

“It’s frustrating, but I didn’t have a choice,” Mr Brain said.

“I didn’t want to sit at home feeling sorry for myself.”

Despite his traumatic life-altering incident caused by another person’s disregard for traffic laws, Mr Brain considers himself fortunate to have the support of his family, friends, and girlfriend.

“I don’t think anyone can truly realise how every aspect of your life is touched after something like this,” Mr Brain said.

“You are never just impacting the person you hit.

“My family, friends and girlfriend were fantastic in supporting me, and I am so lucky.

“I know my loved ones were terrified when I was laying in hospital and were with me every step of the way in recovery, during that time their worlds were also turned upside down.

“Seeing me like that was incredibly difficult for them it’s also a trauma they have to deal with.”

Mr Brain has since returned to part-time work as a diesel mechanic at Brandt Australia in Leongatha.

“This has been the most shocking and traumatic experience of my life, but not everyone is lucky enough to have the same mindset I do,” Mr Brain said.

“Not everyone can recover from a life-changing event, and it doesn’t only affect me, but it affects my family and friends.”

Slater and Gordon Senior Associate, Motor Vehicle Accidents, Jessica Lyons, said Mr Brain’s situation demonstrates the devastating effect our choices can have on other people’s lives.

“I have been blown away by Izaak’s determination to keep going and his positive mindset,” Ms Lyons said.

“Everyone needs to be aware that when we get behind the wheel, every choice we make could change someone else’s life.”

On Tuesday, April 18, two motorcyclists died on Victorian roads, bringing this year’s total number of motorcyclist deaths to 16.

Following a significant increase in motorcycle trauma and a horror year for motorcyclist fatalities in 2022, 57 deaths, Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Glenn Weir urges road users to be cautious.

“We ask all road users to take care, to look and to really pay attention to all aspects of the road and all those people using it,” Assistant Commissioner Weir said.

“We know that the faster you go, the less reaction time that all road users have.

“Sometimes the difference between life and death can be a split second, so I ask people to consider that and to really drive within safe parameters to allow everyone to get to where they are going.

“We’ve had daylight savings finish; it is darker earlier in the afternoon and in the evening, and we know that speed at night is a significant cause of trauma, so I ask people to consider that.”

Seventeen motorcyclists have been killed on Victorian roads to date.