Accredited official statistics

Reported road casualties Great Britain: motorcyclist factsheet 2023

Published 26 September 2024

This factsheet presents trends from 2004 onwards. However, grouped data for years from 2019 to 2023 is used widely in order to allow sufficiently robust analysis by age, sex and other variables

This factsheet gives an overview and key statistics on motorcyclists involved in road collisions in Great Britain as reported by or to the police. This factsheet examines the main trends in collisions involving motorcyclists and the casualties involved.

Motorcyclists are one of the vulnerable user groups. They are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are, and tend to be harder for drivers to see on the road. They are, therefore, particularly susceptible to injuries.

Data in this factsheet is from 2004 onwards. Serious and slight injuries have been adjusted to account for changes in the severity reporting systems. More information on the change and adjustment process is available in the severity adjustment guidance.

It should be noted that it has been long known that a considerable percentage of non-fatal casualties are not reported to the police. This should be borne in mind when analysing and interpreting the data.

1. Main findings

Between 2004 and 2023:

• fatalities were down 46% from 585 to 315

• serious injuries (adjusted) decreased by 36%

• motorcycle traffic decreased by 10%

Averaged over the period 2019 to 2023:

• an average of 6 motorcyclists died and 102 were seriously injured (adjusted) per week in reported road casualties

• a majority of motorcycle fatalities (59%) do not occur at or within 20 metres of a junction compared to 41% of all seriously injured (adjusted) casualties

• almost half (37%) of motorcycle fatalities were in 2 vehicle collisions between a motorcycle and a car

• 67% of motorcycle fatalities occurred on rural roads compared to 40% of traffic

• 92% of motorcycle killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties were male

• the most common contributory factor allocated to motorcyclists in fatal or serious collisions (FSC) with another vehicle was ‘Driver or rider failed to look properly’

• ‘Driver or rider failed to look properly’ was also the most common factor allocated to the other vehicles involved

2. Motorcycle traffic and reported casualties

In 2023, 315 motorcyclists were killed in Great Britain, whilst 5,481 were reported to be seriously injured (adjusted) and 11,182 slightly injured (adjusted).

Table 1 and Chart 1 show that motorcycle traffic fell between 2004 and 2023. However, the percentage reduction in non-fatal injuries was greater and fatalities slightly greater again.

The overall number of motorcyclist casualties fell each year from 2014 to 2020, but increased between 2020 and 2023.

Between 2022 and 2023, motorcyclist fatalities decreased by 10% while motorcyclist traffic showed little change.

Chart 1: Index of motorcycle traffic and reported motorcyclist casualties by severity, GB: 2004 to 2023 (Index 2004=100)

Table 1: Number of reported motorcycle casualties by severity and traffic (motorcycle billion vehicle miles), GB: 2004 to 2023

Year	Killed	Serious	Slight	All	Traffic
2004	585	8,573	16,483	25,641	3.15
2005	569	8,310	15,945	24,824	3.31
2006	599	8,015	14,712	23,326	3.17
2007	588	8,233	14,638	23,459	3.39
2008	493	7,468	13,589	21,550	3.13
2009	472	7,208	13,023	20,703	3.17
2010	403	6,454	11,829	18,686	2.86
2011	362	7,014	12,774	20,150	2.90
2012	328	6,697	12,285	19,310	2.59
2013	331	6,520	11,901	18,752	2.65
2014	339	7,063	12,964	20,366	2.74
2015	365	6,761	12,801	19,927	2.75
2016	319	6,659	12,319	19,297	2.77
2017	349	6,191	11,502	18,042	2.74
2018	354	6,059	10,405	16,818	2.72
2019	336	5,685	10,203	16,224	2.67
2020	285	4,457	8,862	13,604	2.16
2021	310	5,200	10,328	15,838	2.53
2022	350	5,607	10,986	16,943	2.84
2023	315	5,481	11,182	16,978	2.85

Source: DfT STATS19 and National Road Traffic Census

3. How far do motorcyclists travel?

There are 2 sources of motorcycling distances travelled published by the department:

• the National Travel Survey (NTS) which provides the number of trips and average distance travelled by person per year for English residents. This is used to derive casualty rates per mile travelled for pedestrians

• the National Road Traffic Census estimates based on annual traffic count data which produces total vehicle miles by type of vehicle and type of road. This is used to derive casualty rates per mile travelled for vehicle occupants

4. Casualty rates per mile travelled

The motorcycle casualty rate has fallen for all severities in 2023 compared to 2004.

The overall casualty rate decreased by 27%. The fatality rate decreased by 40% compared to a 29% reduction for serious injuries and a 25% reduction for slight injuries.

Chart 2: Index of casualty rates of motorcycle casualties by severity, GB: 2004 to 2023 (Index 2004=100)

Table 2: Casualty rates of motorcycle casualties by severity per billion vehicle miles travelled, GB: 2004-2023

Year	Killed	Serious	Slight	All
2004	186	2,721	5,231	8,138
2005	172	2,509	4,814	7,495
2006	189	2,530	4,644	7,363
2007	173	2,427	4,316	6,917
2008	158	2,388	4,346	6,892
2009	149	2,272	4,106	6,527
2010	141	2,256	4,135	6,532
2011	125	2,420	4,407	6,952
2012	127	2,585	4,742	7,453
2013	125	2,463	4,496	7,084
2014	124	2,579	4,734	7,437
2015	133	2,461	4,660	7,254
2016	115	2,405	4,449	6,969
2017	127	2,256	4,191	6,574
2018	130	2,229	3,828	6,188
2019	126	2,130	3,822	6,077
2020	132	2,060	4,096	6,288
2021	123	2,055	4,081	6,259
2022	123	1,976	3,872	5,971
2023	111	1,923	3,923	5,956

5. Sex and age comparisons

Between 2019 and 2023, 92% of motorcycle casualties were male and 7% female.

There are 13 times more male than female motorcycle casualties overall. This compares to 13 times more for 12 to 15 year olds and 14 times more for 25 to 29 year olds.

Chart 3: Percentage of motorcycle KSI casualties, by sex and age, GB: 2019 to 2023

6. Which other vehicles are involved in collisions with motorcyclists?

Between 2019 and 2023, most motorcycle fatalities occurred in 2-vehicle collisions involving a car (593).

However, the highest proportion of casualties that are fatal occur in 2-vehicle collisions involving an HGV (9.0%). The second highest proportion (6.4%) occurred in collisions when two or more other vehicles were involved.

Table 3: motorcycle casualties in reported road collisions by severity showing other vehicles involved GB: 2019 to 2023

Other vehicles	Fatalities	Serious injuries	Slight injuries	All casualties	% Fatalities
No other vehicles involved	410	6,105	5,988	12,503	3.3%
1 pedal cycle	2	128	373	503	0.4%
1 motorcycle	25	526	1,184	1,735	1.4%
1 car	593	15,061	36,534	52,188	1.1%
1 bus or coach	11	128	305	444	2.5%
1 light goods vehicle	110	1,655	3,605	5,370	2.0%
1 heavy goods vehicle	75	339	421	835	9.0%
1 other vehicle	37	340	463	840	4.4%
2 or more other vehicles involved	333	2,149	2,687	5,169	6.4%
Total	1,596	26,429	51,562	79,587	2.0%

7. Time of day of collisions

The weekday peak time for motorcyclist KSIs is from 7am to 10am and from 4pm to 7pm. By contrast, the pattern differs for Saturday and Sunday for both trips and KSIs. During the weekend there is a single peak around early afternoon (12 noon to 4pm).

Chart 4: Reported motorcyclist KSIs by hour of day and day of week, GB: 2019 to 2023

8. What type of road?

Chart 5 shows that between 2019 and 2023, 67% of motorcycle fatalities occurred on rural roads compared to 40% in traffic. The proportion of slight injuries and all casualties on rural roads, however, were lower than the proportion of traffic. The rate of fatalities on motorways (3%) was lower than traffic (6%). The rates of non-fatal injuries were lower still.

Chart 5: Percentage of motorcycle casualties, by urban rural classification and severity and traffic, GB: 2019 to 2023

In this report, urban roads are defined as those within an area of population of 10,000 or more in England and Wales or more than 3,000 in Scotland - roads outside of these areas are classified as rural (Department for Transport types of road definitions).

9. Vehicle movement on the road

A majority of motorcycle fatalities (59%) do not occur at or within 20m of a junction compared to 41% of serious injuries (adjusted). However, 27% of fatalities occur at a junction compared to 38% of serious injuries (adjusted). Motorcycle fatalities at roundabouts represent 3% of all fatalities in contrast to 8% of serious injuries (adjusted).

Table 4: Percentage of motorcyclist casualties by severity and junction detail where the collision occurred, GB: 2019 to 2023

Junction	Fatalities	Serious	Slight	All Casualties
Not at junction or within 20 metres	58.8%	41.1%	28.4%	33.2%
T, Y or staggered junction	22.2%	31.2%	33.8%	32.7%
Crossroads	6.2%	8.3%	9.0%	8.7%
Roundabout	2.7%	6.9%	8.3%	7.7%
Other junction	4.5%	5.3%	6.6%	6.1%
Unknown	0.0%	0.3%	6.6%	4.3%
Private drive or entrance	3.7%	3.5%	2.8%	3.0%
Junction - more than 4 arms (not roundabout)	0.5%	1.4%	1.8%	1.7%
Mini-roundabout	0.6%	1.0%	1.4%	1.3%
Slip road	0.8%	1.1%	1.3%	1.2%

10. Contributory factors in collisions

Contributory factors provide an insight into how and why collisions occur. The factors are largely subjective as they reflect the opinion of the reporting police officer. They are assigned quickly at the occurrence of the collision and often without extensive investigations and so should be interpreted with caution. They are likely to be affected in part by preconceptions police officers have of certain vehicle groups. A maximum of 6 factors can be recorded for each collision.

Table 5 shows the 10 most common contributory factors that have been allocated to motorcyclists that have been involved in fatal or serious collisions (FSC) (between 2019 and 2023) and contrasts this with the number allocated to non-motorcyclists in these collisions.

The 2 most common contributory factor assigned to both motorcyclists and other vehicle types was ‘failed to look properly’ followed by a failure ‘to judge other person’s path or speed’.

The third most common factor allocated to motorcyclists was ‘driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry’. For other vehicles in collision with them the third most common was ‘poor turn or manoeuvre’.

Table 5: Contributory factors allocated to vehicles involved in fatal or serious collisions with motorcycle, GB: 2019 to 2023

Contributory Factor	Motorcyclists	Non-motorcyclists	Any vehicle involved
Driver or rider failed to look properly	3,124	6,739	9,863
Driver or rider failed to judge other person`s path or speed	3,029	2,678	5,707
Driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry	2,882	1,670	4,551
Exceeding speed limit	1,945	209	2,154
Poor turn or manoeuvre	1,659	2,077	3,736
Loss of control	1,346	111	1,457
Learner or inexperienced driver or rider	1,101	172	1,272
Travelling too fast for conditions	1,027	110	1,137
Aggressive driving	751	267	1,017
Following too close	738	176	914

11. Further information

Further information on road collisions and casualties are available from Road Safety Statistics.

Published tables on casualties in reported road collisions are available.

Non-fatal casualties since 2016 have been affected by a large number of police forces changing their reporting systems which has had a large impact on the classification of injuries recorded. Further details of the adjustment for this are in the severity adjustment guidance.

Road collisions and safety statistics guidance including accompanying notes and definitions are available.

Personal travel statistics within Great Britain covering English residents is available from the National Travel Survey.

Road traffic statistics provide estimates of the vehicle miles travelled each year in Great Britain by vehicle type, road category and region.

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14. Contact details

Road safety statistics

Email roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk