Motorcycles: Death
(asked on 6th December 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the causes of motorcyclist fatalities.
DfT reported road casualty statistics reports numbers of personal injury road traffic collisions in Great Britain that were reported to the police using the STATS19 reporting system.
STATS19 does not record the causes of collisions. However, attending police officers can record up to six factors that they believe contributed to collisions as part of the STATS19 dataset. Officers do not need to carry out a full investigation of the collision before allocating factors, usually using professional judgement about what they can see at the scene.
The statistics for the top five contributory factors assigned to road collisions involving motorcyclist fatalities is set out in the table below.
Table: Top 5 contributory factors attributed in reported road collision involving motorcyclist fatalities in Great Britain, 2022
Contributory factor reported in collision | 2022 motorcyclist fatalities |
Driver/Rider failed to look properly | 93 |
Driver/Rider careless, reckless or in a hurry | 80 |
Exceeding speed limit | 78 |
Loss of control | 76 |
Driver/Rider failed to judge other person`s path or speed | 69 |
The safety of vulnerable road users is a priority for the Government. For road users who choose to travel by motorcycle, the Department remains committed to ensuring that they are equipped with the specialist skills necessary to stay safe on the road. In 2019, we published the Road Safety Statement, which includes a range of specific actions and research initiatives for motorcycles, designed to understand the risks and increase protection and improve training, education and safety advice.