Motorcyclists Are Dying at Higher Rates. Here's What the Government Is Doing About It.

In January 2026, the UK government published its new Road Safety Strategy — the first in over a decade. It set a target to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads by 65% by 2035. That's an ambitious goal. And for motorcyclists, it's an overdue one.

Because the numbers, frankly, are not good.

What the Data Actually Shows

In 2024, 340 motorcyclists were killed on UK roads. That's up 8% on the year before, continuing a trend that has shown no meaningful improvement since 2014.

To put that in context: motorcycles make up around 3.5% of all vehicles registered in the UK. Yet motorcyclists account for 21% of all road fatalities. Per mile travelled, a motorcyclist is approximately 43 times more likely to be killed than a car occupant.

Six motorcyclists die on UK roads every week, on average. And the trajectory is going in the wrong direction.

Why Are Motorcyclists So Vulnerable?

The risk gap between motorcycles and cars comes down to a few fundamental realities.

There's no protective shell. A car surrounds the driver in a structure designed to absorb and redirect crash energy. A motorcycle offers no equivalent protection. In a serious collision, the rider takes the impact directly.

Motorcycles are harder for other road users to see. Cars check for cars. At junctions, in mirrors, during lane changes — motorcycles are smaller and faster, and drivers frequently fail to spot them. The classic "sorry mate, I didn't see you" scenario accounts for a significant proportion of motorcycle accidents.

Speed differentials are higher. A motorcycle can accelerate and manoeuvre in ways that create larger gaps between rider speed and the speed other road users expect. When something goes wrong, it tends to go wrong fast.

Training standards have room to improve. The current CBT system allows a rider to complete training, ride for two years, renew, and repeat — indefinitely — without ever taking a full test. That means some riders accumulate years of road time without the structured progression that builds the deeper skills needed to manage risk well.

What the Road Safety Strategy Proposes

The government's strategy targets a 65% reduction in killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties by 2035. For motorcyclists specifically, the measures being discussed include:

Reform of the CBT and licensing system. The government's wider consultation on motorcycle training and testing (which closed in March 2026) raised the possibility of adding a theory test to CBT, restricting permanent renewal cycling, and introducing more structured progression between licence categories. The goal is to ensure that time on the road translates into measurable skill development, not just accumulated miles.

Improved junction design. A significant proportion of motorcycle accidents happen at junctions where other drivers fail to give way. Infrastructure changes aimed at making motorcycles more visible at these points are part of the conversation.

Increased traffic enforcement. Speed enforcement and distracted driving enforcement both feature in the strategy, with both directly impacting the risk environment for vulnerable road users.

Improved data collection. Better understanding of where, when, and why motorcycle accidents happen allows for more targeted interventions. The strategy commits to improving the quality of road casualty data.

What This Means for New Riders

If you're considering getting into motorcycling, the statistics above are worth knowing — not to put you off, but to help you approach it with the right mindset.

The risk of riding is real. But it is also substantially manageable. The riders who get into serious trouble are disproportionately those who underestimated the skill required, rushed their training, or skipped progression steps in pursuit of more bike sooner.

The riders who ride for decades without serious incident tend to share a few things: they trained properly, they continued learning beyond their initial certificate, and they approached the road with genuine awareness of the risks they were managing.

That's what good training is for. Not just to tick a legal box — but to give you a genuine foundation for safe riding.

Why Training Quality Matters More Than Ever

At RideTo, we personally vet every instructor on our platform before they can list with us. We visit training sites ourselves. We collect feedback from every rider who books through us and share it directly with instructors, so standards improve over time rather than drift.

That approach matters precisely because the data shows how high the stakes are. A CBT completed with a rushed, underprepared instructor and a CBT completed with an experienced, conscientious one are not the same thing — even if both technically result in a certificate.

We work with instructors who care about the outcome, not just the throughput.

The Bigger Opportunity

The government's 65% KSI reduction target is ambitious. Hitting it will require better infrastructure, better enforcement, and genuinely better training. All three matter.

But training is the part that riders themselves can influence directly. The best thing any new rider can do for their own safety — and for the wider statistics — is to train with someone good, take it seriously, and build skills progressively rather than rushing to the biggest bike they can legally get on.

Find CBT training near you with an instructor you can trust.

Thinking about going further than a CBT? A full motorcycle licence opens up more bike options, removes L-plate restrictions, and — with good training behind you — puts you in a much stronger position on the road.