Helping L Riders : Facts and Figures

Motorcycling has become much more popular in recent years. Unfortunately, because there are many more motorcyclists on the road, there has been an increase in the number of motorcyclists killed and injured. However, there was a substantial drop in motorcyclist deaths in 2004.

Around one in five of the people killed on the road are motorcyclists.

Motorcyclists make up about 1% of traffic on Britain's roads, but 20% of the deaths and serious injuries.

Accidents involving younger riders are more likely to occur in urban areas than on rural roads, and the riders are more likely to be on smaller machines.

Although more women are taking up motorcycling, the vast majority (89%) of motorcyclist casualties are still male.

Almost 20% of motorcyclist crashes occur when the rider loses control of their machine, without another vehicle being involved. These crashes cause over one quarter of motorcyclist deaths. However, nearly 70% of motorcyclist casualties are caused by collisions with cars. These crashes cause nearly half of motorcyclist deaths.

One of the best ways of reducing risk is for new riders (and those who are returning to riding after a gap of many years) to take as much training as possible and to build up their riding experience on smaller machines before graduating onto to more powerful ones.