Two motorcyclists in crash helmets stopped at a moorland viewpoint at dusk, one looking at a phone that lights the scene, with a low orange sunset behind them.

Rider data

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Thirty-two things the police record of Britain's road casualties says about riding. Pick one, check the source, send it to someone who rides.

Fact 1 of 32

386 motorcyclists were killed on Britain's roads in 2025, up 14% on 2024.

Source: DfT STATS19, 2025 final release. See the data

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Before you share this. These are counts of people from the police record of reported road casualties, not risk rates, and not an allegation against anyone. The source is included in the share text so it travels with the number. What you write alongside it is yours, not ours.

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All 32, grouped. Every figure comes from our own analysis of the police record of road casualties in Great Britain.

The roads

Which numbered roads carry the most rider casualties, and which carry the highest casualty rate for the traffic they see.

386 motorcyclists were killed on Britain's roads in 2025, up 14% on 2024.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2025 final release
See the data
The A38 has the most motorcyclist casualties of any road in Britain, with 183 killed or seriously injured over five years.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
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The A38 tops every most dangerous road list, but per mile ridden it runs at 0.86 times the national average and ranks 1,116th of 1,710 roads.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
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Measured against how far people actually ride, the most dangerous road in Britain for motorcyclists is the A29, at 7,446 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles. The national average is 2,170.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
See the data
Only four of the twenty roads with the most motorcyclist casualties are also in the top twenty once you divide by miles ridden. Twelve of them are below the national average.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
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Snake Pass carries 5,229 motorcyclist casualties killed or seriously injured per billion miles ridden, 2.41 times the national average.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
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The Cat and Fiddle, once called Britain's most dangerous road, now records six riders killed or seriously injured in five years and runs below the national average per mile.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
See the data
We can measure a casualty rate per mile ridden for 1,710 numbered roads in Britain. Nobody else publishes it.
Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT traffic counts, 2021 to 2025
See the data

When riders crash

The months, days, hours and conditions in which motorcyclists are killed or seriously injured.

Between 2021 and 2025 the police recorded 81,166 motorcyclist casualties in Great Britain. 1,701 of them died.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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June is the worst month to be a rider. 3,218 motorcyclists were killed or seriously injured in June across 2021 to 2025, against 1,315 in January.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
August is the deadliest month for riders, with 249 motorcyclists killed across five years.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
The single worst hour of the week for riders is Thursday between 5pm and 6pm, with 442 motorcyclists killed or seriously injured over five years.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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Friday is the worst day for motorcyclists, with 4,412 killed or seriously injured over five years. Monday is the safest, with 3,552.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
Motorcyclists are hurt most on a Friday. Cyclists are hurt most on a Thursday, and their safest day by a distance is Sunday.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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74% of motorcyclist casualties happen in daylight and 76% happen on a dry road. Riders are not mostly getting hurt in the dark and the rain.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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82% of motorcyclist casualties happen in fine weather with no high winds. Rain accounts for 9%.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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Unlit darkness is 3% of motorcyclist casualties but 8% of motorcyclist deaths: 5.97 deaths per 100 casualties against 2.11 in daylight.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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Wet roads are less deadly than dry ones, per casualty: 1.59 deaths per 100 casualties on a wet or damp road against 2.34 on a dry one, because wet-road crashes cluster in slow urban traffic.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
Of every 100 motorcyclist casualties on a 60mph road, 6.33 died. On a motorway the figure is 4.98. The rural single carriageway is the deadliest road type in Britain for riders.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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Of every 100 motorcyclist casualties on a 20mph road, 0.34 died. On a 60mph road it is 6.33, eighteen times higher.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
Rural roads hold 31% of motorcyclist casualties and 72% of motorcyclist deaths.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
A motorcyclist casualty is more than twice as likely to be fatal away from a junction as at one. Junctions are where riders get hurt, open road is where they die.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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Between 2021 and 2025 motorcyclist deaths in Britain rose 25% while cyclist deaths fell 29%. Two groups of vulnerable road users on the same roads, moving in opposite directions.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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June is the worst month for cyclists too, with 2,080 killed or seriously injured across five years against 1,131 in December.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data
May to September carries 54% of the year's motorcyclist casualties killed or seriously injured, in five months of the twelve.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data

Bends and clusters

What the shape of a road, and the places crashes gather on it, look like in the data.

The bendiest rural A road in Britain is the A39, with 3,357 bends tighter than a 175 metre radius across 204 miles.
Source: OpenStreetMap and DfT STATS19
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Among Britain's rural roads, the bendier the road, the higher its casualty rate per mile ridden. The correlation is +0.73.
Source: OpenStreetMap and DfT STATS19
See the data
The A57 has 2,066 bends tighter than a 175 metre radius, and a casualty rate 2.41 times the national average.
Source: OpenStreetMap and DfT STATS19
See the data
There are 3,274 places in Britain where three or more riders or cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in a single 500 metre square in five years.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
See the data

Cyclists

The same police record read for people on two wheels without an engine.

79 cyclists were killed on Britain's roads in 2025, the lowest total of the last five years.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2025 final release
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Between 2021 and 2025 the police recorded 77,741 pedal cyclist casualties in Great Britain, of whom 450 died.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2021 to 2025
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The A4 is the worst road in Britain for cyclists, with 36 killed or seriously injured in 2025.
Source: DfT STATS19, 2025 final release
See the data

Where these come from

Every fact on this page is taken from our own analysis of the Department for Transport's STATS19 data, the police record of every road casualty reported in Great Britain. The working is published in full on our research pages, along with the data itself under the Open Government Licence. The bend counts and crash clusters come from our Ride Planner.