Motorcycle safety in the United Kingdom covers the road safety of riders and passengers of motorcycles, mopeds and motor tricycles in the United Kingdom, together with the licensing, training, equipment, infrastructure and statistical arrangements that apply to them. Motorcyclists are classed by the Department for Transport (DfT) as vulnerable road users, alongside pedestrians and pedal cyclists, because they are not enclosed by a vehicle body during a collision.
Casualty statistics for Great Britain are compiled by the DfT from police STATS19 returns and published in Reported Road Casualties Great Britain; Northern Ireland casualties are reported separately by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). In 2025 motorcycle users accounted for 25% of reported road deaths in Great Britain from about 1% of road traffic, and had the highest death and serious-injury rate per mile travelled of any road user group.
Motorcycle licensing follows a tiered structure of categories AM, A1, A2 and A that took effect on 19 January 2013, entered through Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) and two practical riding tests administered by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). Helmet use is compulsory under the Road Traffic Act 1988, while other protective clothing is not required by law. The government's Road Safety Strategy, published on 7 January 2026, committed to consulting on reform of motorcycle training, testing and licensing and included two motorcyclist-specific national safety performance indicators.
Casualty statistics
Great Britain Reported Road Casualties Great Britain is the DfT's accredited official statistics series on road collisions, based on the STATS19 collision record completed by police forces. The final results for 2025 were published on 30 July 2026 and reported 1,538 fatalities, 29,918 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties and 127,883 casualties of all severities across all road users in Great Britain.
Within those totals, motorcycle users accounted for 386 deaths, 6,096 KSI casualties and 15,447 casualties of all severities. Motorcyclists made up 25% of road deaths while representing about 1% of road traffic, and 39% of motorcyclist casualties were killed or seriously injured, compared with 17% of car occupant casualties.
Expressed as rates per billion vehicle miles travelled in 2025, motorcycle users recorded 128 deaths, 2,019 KSI casualties and 5,116 casualties of all severities, against 2, 43 and 258 respectively for car occupants. On that measure the DfT put the motorcyclist fatality rate at roughly 50 times the car occupant rate.
Motorcyclist deaths rose in each of 2024 and 2025, reaching their highest level of the preceding decade. Compared with 2024, motorcyclist fatalities increased by 14% and KSI casualties by 7%; compared with 2015, fatalities were 6% higher while KSI casualties were 12% lower. Motorcyclists were the only one of the four main road user groups whose fatalities in 2025 were above the 2015 level.
Over the longer run, reported motorcyclist casualties have fallen while motorcycle traffic has been broadly stable. In 2004 there were 585 motorcyclists killed, 8,324 seriously injured and 16,732 slightly injured across 3.15 billion vehicle miles of motorcycle traffic; in 2025 the equivalent figures were 386 killed, 5,710 seriously injured and 9,351 slightly injured across 3.02 billion vehicle miles. The overall motorcyclist casualty rate per mile travelled fell by 37% between 2004 and 2025, with the fatality rate down 31%.
Averaged over 2021 to 2025, an average of 7 motorcyclists were killed and 104 seriously injured each week in reported road collisions in Great Britain.
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland casualties are recorded by the PSNI and published as accredited official statistics separately from the Great Britain series. In the year to 31 December 2025 the PSNI recorded 5,015 injury road traffic collisions, resulting in 56 fatalities, 1,066 people seriously injured and 6,757 slightly injured. Of the 23 vulnerable road users killed that year, 6 were motorcyclists, alongside 16 pedestrians and 1 pedal cyclist.
Circumstances of collisions DfT analysis of grouped 2021 to 2025 data reports that 70% of motorcycle fatalities in Great Britain occurred on roads in rural areas, against 38% of motorcycle traffic, while 3% of fatalities occurred on motorways against 6% of traffic. A majority of motorcycle fatalities, 62.3%, occurred away from a junction or more than 20 metres from one, compared with 47.8% of seriously injured motorcycle casualties.
Where another vehicle was involved, two-vehicle collisions with a car produced the largest number of motorcyclist deaths over 2021 to 2025, at 637. The highest proportion of fatal outcomes occurred in two-vehicle collisions involving a heavy goods vehicle, at 9.8% of motorcyclist casualties in such collisions. Over the same period 92% of motorcyclist KSI casualties were male.
Weekday motorcyclist KSI casualties peak between 07:00 and 10:00 and between 16:00 and 19:00, while at weekends there is a single peak in the early afternoon.
Under the road safety factors recorded by police officers for fatal or serious collisions in 2024 and 2025, the factor most often assigned both to motorcyclists and to the other vehicles involved was "ineffective observation by either the driver or rider or pedestrian", recorded for 41% of motorcyclists and 63% of non-motorcyclists. "Driver or rider exceeding speed limit" was assigned to 26% of motorcyclists and 5% of non-motorcyclists. The DfT notes that these factors reflect the reporting officer's opinion, are assigned without extensive investigation and should be interpreted with caution.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), reviewing the in-depth crash studies conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the DfT and the European motorcycle manufacturers' association ACEM, groups the recurring British crash types as failure to negotiate a bend, collisions at junctions, overtaking collisions and loss of control. RoSPA also records that many non-fatal injury collisions are never reported to the police, so published casualty counts understate the true total.
A DfT in-depth study published in 2004, which examined 1,790 collisions involving a motorcycle, found that two of the three most common collision types arose from the actions of other road users rather than the rider.
Licensing and training
Licence categories Great Britain operates a tiered motorcycle licensing structure. Different rules apply to riders who held a motorcycle or moped licence before 19 January 2013, the date on which the current categories took effect.
+ Motorcycle and moped licence categories in Great Britain Category Vehicles covered Route Minimum age AM Mopeds with a speed range of 25 to 45 km/h; small three-wheelers up to 50 cc and below 4 kW; light quadricycles CBT, theory test, practical test 16 Q As AM, plus two or three-wheeled mopeds with a top speed of 25 km/h Granted with AM 16 A1 Light motorcycles up to 11 kW and 125 cc, with a power-to-weight ratio not exceeding 0.1 kW per kg; motor tricycles up to 15 kW CBT, theory test, practical test 17 A2 Standard motorcycles up to 35 kW with a power-to-weight ratio not exceeding 0.2 kW per kg, not derived from a vehicle of more than twice that power Direct access, or progressive access after two years on A1 19 A Motorcycles unrestricted in size or power, with or without sidecar; motor tricycles over 15 kW Direct access from age 24, or progressive access after two years holding A2 from age 21 24 (direct) or 21 (progressive)
Source: DVLA guidance published on GOV.UK.
Compulsory basic training and testing Before riding unaccompanied on the road, a learner must hold a provisional licence and complete Compulsory Basic Training, a course delivered by an approved training body and made up of five elements covering introduction and eyesight, machine controls, off-road riding, road safety briefing and on-road riding. After completing CBT a rider has two years in which to pass the motorcycle theory test and both parts of the practical test, failing which CBT must be taken again.
The practical test is administered by the DVSA in two parts. Module 1 is an off-road test of manoeuvres conducted at a designated test centre; module 2 is an on-road riding test. Module 1 must be passed before module 2 can be taken, and each carries a separate fee. There is no minimum number of lessons.
Riders who hold a full licence may take the DVSA Enhanced Rider Scheme, a post-test assessment and training package for which some insurers offer premium discounts.
Post-test and advanced training Post-test rider training in the UK is delivered by charities, police forces and commercial providers. IAM RoadSmart and RoSPA both run advanced rider courses. BikeSafe is a police-led workshop programme, described by its organisers as running across 38 police forces and more than 100 venues, in which advanced police riders deliver classroom theory and an observed ride followed by written or recorded feedback. BikeSafe states that it is not a formal training programme.
Proposed reform The Road Safety Strategy published in January 2026 stated that legislative changes made to improve motorcyclist safety had produced a complex training, testing and licensing regime, and committed the government to consulting on reform of the regime for category A licences in Great Britain.
The DVSA consultation "Improving moped and motorcycle training, testing and licensing" ran from 7 January to 11 May 2026 and applied to England, Scotland and Wales. It sought views on restricting learner riders to automatic machines where CBT was completed on one, introducing a theory test to be taken before or as part of CBT, introducing a progressive access training course for licence upgrades, updating the CBT syllabus, changing how motorcycle instructors qualify, and changing certificate validity periods. Responses were under analysis as of August 2026.
Rider and industry bodies have linked the reform question to the casualty figures. Following the DfT's provisional 2025 statistics, the National Motorcyclists Council said the figures underlined the need for reform of the motorcycle training and testing regime, while the Motorcycle Industry Association called for the DVSA and DfT Motorcycle Strategy Group to be reconvened. After the final 2025 statistics were published, IAM RoadSmart said the increase in motorcyclist fatalities was of deep concern and that the government's strategy needed clear timelines and funding.
Protective equipment
Helmets Rule 83 of The Highway Code requires the rider and any pillion passenger of a motorcycle, scooter or moped to wear a compliant, securely fastened protective helmet on every journey, and exempts Sikhs who are wearing a turban. The rule is founded on sections 16 and 17 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and on the Motor Cycles (Protective Helmets) Regulations 1998.
A helmet worn on a UK road must meet British Standard BS 6658:1985 and carry the BSI Kitemark, or UNECE Regulation 22.05, or UNECE Regulation 22.06, or a European Economic Area standard offering at least equivalent protection and carrying an equivalent mark.
Helmet ratings The Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme (SHARP) is a consumer information scheme launched by the DfT in 2007 following research that identified differences in the safety performance of helmets sold in the UK. SHARP states that motorcyclists typically represent 1% of UK traffic but 19% of casualties, that around 80% of motorcyclist fatalities and 70% of those seriously injured sustain head injuries, and that helmet detachment has been reported in 10% to 14% of casualties.