Bloody hell that’s a huge jump and not a good look “these days”. https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2026/june/ksi-sat-update-2025/
I'd be interested to see the figures and data with more refinement...rider error/smacked by a car driver. All for improved training, but for drivers too. Last time out I had 2 near misses caused by reckless drivers.
Break down those figures into type of bike, age of rider, ethnicity, experience etc. and there may be a picture of where the problems lie
Disappointed a supposed motorcycling advocate, the MCN, should publish such a poorly written article. Andy
A few years back I did a proper study of the accident data for motorcyclists Europe wide, with granular detail. Accidents where a vehicle pulls out of a junction into the path of an oncoming motorcycle are the most most common accident involving multiple vehicles, the figures were clearly above rider error (which included things like situational awareness (not just obvious stuff like speed)). The conclusions were more training...but for car drivers...not motorcyclists.
You mean like here, Ok so it's USA Kentucky Motorcycle Crashes in 2025 | Gary C. Johnson Attorneys at Law, P.S.C.
That article is utter bollocks, why is it on us to have more training? Both major accidents I’ve had were due to cars, one pulled out whilst looking in the other direction and the other while I was in stationary traffic. Maybe I need more stationary traffic training. Car drivers are the problem, they need more training and should be put on a bike as part of the car driver training. Car driving standards are the worst I’ve ever seen, don’t indicate, come around bends over the centre line, cutting corners coming into junctions.
The 2025 overview is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...alties-great-britain-provisional-results-2025 HTML or ODS (spreadsheet) For more detail you want these: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/road-safety-statistics-data-tables However, the 2025 figures aren't there yet.* Examples from 2024 data: RAS0601: Collisions and casualties by vehicle and road user type involved (ODS, 62.7 KB) - Motorcyclists killed with 1 vehicle involved: 78 in 2024 - Motorcyclists killed with 2 vehicles involved (no definition of who was at fault, note): 183 in 2024 - Motorcyclists killed with 3+ vehicles involved: 79 in 2024 *July and September for full results, says this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...reat-britain-implemented-and-upcoming-changes
Whilst I don't disagree with your point in principle, the simple fact of the matter is that, unless the circumstances are truly exceptional, there is only going to be one loser in a car v motorcycle RTA and that is us. And no-one has more interest in our continued good health than us. So it wouldn't hurt any of us to have some more training to keep ourselves safer; but it shouldn't be compulsory, and it shouldn't cost us. And yes, the car driving test is woefully inadequate and the vast majority of car drivers need further training, but unfortunately they are the majority so will always get a pass. And I'd go one step further; being put on a bike isn't sufficient, you need to earn a motorcycle licence before you can apply for a car driving licence would be my suggestion.
"Ride like every single car is trying to kill you"...can't remember where it's from, but it's damn good advice.
Spend £55. Do the E-learning course and buy the book. Forget IAM courses. Roadcraft will genuinely change you and make you a better rider. https://www.safedrivingforlife.info/shop/motorcycle-roadcraft-elearning/ Oh…and get yourself an up to date Highway Code. If it was before 29th January 2022 when you read a copy then you are severely out of date.
IAM is indirectly based on Roadcraft (their logbook is a distlllation of it). RoSPA/RoADAR is directly based on Roadcraft. Therefore both courses 'will genuinely change you and make you a better rider' too, but - agreed - at a price. Reading a book or doing e-learning is unlikely to make it sink in. Just like exams or any learning, practice will make it stick - not just a read, and a quiz. A ride with someone (politely, sensitively) telling you where you could have improved your ride works best for most people. And then practice practice practice. And then another rideout to measure improvement, and so on. This is why IAM and RoSPA/RoADAR exist. Both are charities, and yes, both do attract some nerds, BMW riders, flouro vest wearers, but the tutors/observers are just trying to point you in the right direction to keep you alive. If you live in Warwickshire you can get free advanced training, courtesy of our forward-looking Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) - spaces are limited, first come, first served:
What none of the stats ever show is the percentage of incidents/accidents by full licence holders and those by L plated, CBT provisional licence holders, and as all two wheeled, powered vehicles are lumped into one it is very difficult to argue that motorcyclists need more training when by virtue of the fact they are on L plates that is already a given.
The Gov data has a split of motorcycle accidents by engine capacity. The top figures are fatalities, the bottom are killed + seriously injured (KSI): (from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d3d3e2b6c608ff9421b267/ras0502.ods) Smaller CC bike riders (probably where most learners, provisional holders, etc fall into) have double the KSI of larger bikes. A good guess might be that many are lower speed accidents in towns/cities. Larger CC bike riders account for 4 times the smaller bike fatalities. That isn't because large CC bike riders are dying in towns and cities. [Note there's no figures for actual numbers for each type of bike CC, but from sales figures (which I don't have to hand) there are more small bikes in the UK than large ones, which would make the large bike deaths look even worse as a ratio of riders/deaths.] The correlation of large CC and deaths has to be due to the differences in CC/bike or the type of rider. Possible reasons I can think of: - speed* - weight - rider incompetence** *speed as in hitting a car that pulled out on you at 60mph is more likely to cause death than a 30mph SMIDSY. Or maybe speed as in it's harder to judge the speed of a fast large bike compared to a pizza delivery bike. Or too high a speed around a corner. **small CC bike riders may well be as incompetent as larger bike riders, but incompetence at 30mph is less likely to cause a death than at 60mph. I can't think of any other conclusion other than speed is the big difference. Or as the police would call it 'appropriate speed', where 'appropriate' covers the competent/incompetent rider angle.
Still see too many dickheads riding bikes wearing insufficient or even no(other than a helmet) proper protective gear when it warms up. Excessive speed is still the biggest cause of all road fatalities in the UK according to the statistics. Unless some bikers take more interest in their safety we will be legislated off the roads.
If you take the 2024 Government figures that translates to; 47 serious accidents every single day of the year. And at least 1 motorcyclist dies in an RTA e v e r y single day of the year. E v e r y s i n g l e d a y a motorcyclist dies on the roads in the UK. Be careful out there. They’re trying to kill you.
