Accredited official statistics

Reported road casualties in Great Britain: pedal cycle factsheet, 2023

Published 26 September 2024

This factsheet presents trends from 2004 onwards. However, grouped data for years from 2019 to 2023 is used widely in order to allow sufficiently robust analysis by age, sex and other variables.

This factsheet gives an overview and key statistics on pedal cyclists involved in road collisions in Great Britain as reported by or to the police. This factsheet examines the main trends in collisions involving pedal cyclists and the casualties involved.

Pedal cyclists are one of the vulnerable user groups. They are not protected by a vehicle body in the same way car users are, and tend to be harder for drivers to see on the road. They are, therefore, particularly susceptible to injuries.

Data in this factsheet is from 2004 onwards. Serious and slight injuries have been adjusted to account for changes in the severity reporting systems. More information on the change and adjustment process is available in the severity adjustment guidance.

It should be noted that it has been long known that a considerable percentage of non-fatal casualties are not reported to the police. Non-fatal casualties for pedal cyclists are amongst the most likely to be under-reported in road casualty data since cyclists have no obligation to inform the police of collisions. This should be borne in mind when analysing and interpreting the data.

1. Main findings

Between 2004 and 2023:

• fatalities were down 35% from 134 to 87

• serious injuries (adjusted) increased by 18%

• pedal cycle traffic increased by 39%

Averaged over the period 2019 to 2023:

• an average of 2 pedal cyclists died and 80 were seriously injured (adjusted) per week in reported road casualties

• a majority of pedal cycle fatalities (57%) do not occur at or within 20 metres of a junction compared to 33% of all seriously injured (adjusted) casualties

• almost half (46%) of pedal cycle fatalities were in 2 vehicle collisions between a pedal cycle and a car

• 58% of pedal cycle fatalities occurred on rural roads compared to 31% of traffic

• 82% of pedal cycle killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties were male

• the most common contributory factor allocated to pedal cyclists in fatal or serious collisions (FSC) with another vehicle was ‘driver or rider failed to look properly’. It was also the most common factor allocated to the other vehicles involved

2. Pedal cycle traffic and reported casualties

In 2023, 87 pedal cyclists were killed in Great Britain, whilst 3,942 were reported to be seriously injured (adjusted) and 10,970 slightly injured (adjusted).

Table 1 and Chart 1 show that pedal cycle traffic rose between 2004 and 2023 faster than serious injuries whilst fatalities and slight injuries have fallen.

The overall number of pedal cyclist casualties has steadily fallen over the decade from 2014.

During 2023, pedal cyclist fatalities decreased by 4% while pedal cyclist traffic decreased by 7%.

Chart 1: Index of pedal cycle traffic and reported pedal cyclist casualties by severity, GB: 2004 to 2023 (Index 2004=100)

Table 1: Number of reported pedal cycle casualties by severity and traffic (pedal cycle billion vehicle miles), GB: 2004 to 2023

Year	Killed	Serious	Slight	All	Traffic
2004	134	3,329	13,185	16,648	2.59
2005	148	3,337	13,076	16,561	2.73
2006	146	3,383	12,667	16,196	2.86
2007	136	3,488	12,571	16,195	2.62
2008	115	3,520	12,662	16,297	2.93
2009	104	3,758	13,202	17,064	3.06
2010	111	3,831	13,243	17,185	3.10
2011	107	4,393	14,715	19,215	3.17
2012	118	4,539	14,434	19,091	3.35
2013	109	4,513	14,816	19,438	3.24
2014	113	4,943	16,231	21,287	3.59
2015	100	4,552	14,192	18,844	3.37
2016	102	4,334	14,041	18,477	3.36
2017	101	4,328	13,892	18,321	3.46
2018	99	4,319	13,132	17,550	3.52
2019	100	4,164	12,619	16,883	3.63
2020	141	4,268	11,885	16,294	5.30
2021	111	4,285	12,062	16,458	4.20
2022	91	4,045	11,557	15,693	3.90
2023	87	3,942	10,970	14,999	3.61

Source: DfT STATS19 and National Road Traffic Census

3. How far do pedal cyclists travel?

There are 2 sources of cycling distances travelled published by the Department:

• the National Travel Survey (NTS) which provides the number of trips and average distance travelled by person per year for English residents. This is used to derive casualty rates per mile travelled for pedestrians

• the National Road Traffic Census estimates based on annual traffic count data which produces total vehicle miles cycled by type of road. This is used to derive casualty rates per mile travelled for vehicle occupants

4. Casualty rates per mile travelled

The pedal cycle casualty rate has fallen for all severities in 2023 compared to 2004.

The overall casualty rate decreased by 35%. The fatality rate decreased by 53% compared to a 15% reduction for serious injuries and a 40% reduction for slight injuries.

Chart 2: Index of casualty rates of pedal cycle casualties by severity, GB: 2004 to 2023 (Index 2004=100)

Table 2: Casualty rates of pedal cycle casualties by severity per billion vehicle miles travelled, GB: 2004 to 2023

Year	Killed	Serious	Slight	All
2004	52	1,283	5,081	6,416
2005	54	1,220	4,782	6,057
2006	51	1,182	4,426	5,659
2007	52	1,330	4,794	6,177
2008	39	1,201	4,321	5,562
2009	34	1,228	4,314	5,577
2010	36	1,237	4,276	5,549
2011	34	1,388	4,649	6,070
2012	35	1,353	4,302	5,690
2013	34	1,391	4,567	5,991
2014	32	1,378	4,526	5,936
2015	30	1,351	4,213	5,594
2016	30	1,289	4,176	5,495
2017	29	1,249	4,010	5,289
2018	28	1,227	3,731	4,986
2019	28	1,148	3,478	4,653
2020	27	805	2,243	3,075
2021	26	1,021	2,873	3,920
2022	23	1,038	2,965	4,026
2023	24	1,091	3,037	4,152

5. Sex and age comparisons

Between 2019 and 2023, 82% of pedal cycle KSI casualties were male and 18% female.

There are 4 times more male than female pedal cycle KSI casualties overall. This compares to 10 times more for 12 to 15 year olds and 3 times more for 25 to 29 year olds.

Chart 3: Percentage of pedal cycle KSI casualties, by sex and age, GB: 2019 to 2023

6. Which other vehicles are involved in collisions with pedal cyclists?

Between 2019 and 2023, most pedal cycle fatalities occurred in 2 vehicle collisions involving a car (242).

However, the highest proportion of casualties that are fatal occur in 2 vehicle collisions involving an HGV (5.9%). However, the second highest proportion (2.5%) occurred in collisions when no other vehicle was involved.

Table 3: Pedal cycle casualties in reported road collisions by severity showing other vehicles involved, GB: 2019 to 2023

Other vehicles	Fatalities	Serious injuries	Slight injuries	All casualties	% Fatalities
No other vehicles involved	84	1,560	1,704	3,348	2.5%
1 pedal cycle	5	336	575	916	0.5%
1 motorcycle	3	379	1,308	1,690	0.2%
1 car	242	14,894	46,745	61,881	0.4%
1 bus or coach	10	311	772	1,093	0.9%
1 light goods vehicle	49	1,709	4,786	6,544	0.7%
1 heavy goods vehicle	56	323	574	953	5.9%
1 other vehicle	24	420	919	1,363	1.8%
2 or more other vehicles involved	57	771	1,711	2,539	2.2%
Total	530	20,704	59,093	80,327	0.7%

7. Time of day of collisions

The weekday peak time for pedal cyclist KSIs is from 7am to 10am and from 4pm to 7pm. By contrast, the pattern differs for Saturday and Sunday for both trips and KSIs. During the weekend there is a single peak around mid-morning (10 am to 12 noon) which gradually tails off during the afternoon and evening.

Chart 4: Reported pedal cyclist KSIs by hour of day and day of week, GB: 2019 to 2023

8. What type of road?

Chart 5 shows that between 2019 and 2023, 58% of pedal cycle fatalities occurred on rural roads compared to 31% of traffic. The proportion of non-fatal casualties on rural roads, however, were lower than the proportion of traffic.

Chart 5: Percentage of pedal cycle casualties, by urban rural classification and severity and traffic, GB: 2019 to 2023

In this report, urban roads are defined as those within an area of population of 10,000 or more in England and Wales or more than 3,000 in Scotland - roads outside of these areas are classified as rural (Department for Transport types of road definitions).

9. Vehicle movement on the road

A majority of pedal cycle fatalities (57%) do not occur at or within 20 metres of a junction compared to 33% of serious injuries (adjusted). However, 29% of fatalities occur at a junction compared to 41% of serious injuries (adjusted). Pedal cycle fatalities at roundabouts represent 5% of all fatalities in contrast to 12% of serious injuries (adjusted).

Table 4: Percentage of pedal cycle KSI casualties by severity and junction detail where the collision occurred, GB: 2019 to 2023

Junction	Fatalities	Serious	Slight	All Casualties
T, Y or staggered junction	24.3%	34.4%	36.6%	35.9%
Not at junction or within 20 metres	56.6%	32.5%	25.7%	27.7%
Roundabout	4.5%	10.1%	10.8%	10.6%
Crossroads	8.5%	10.0%	10.7%	10.5%
Other junction	3.6%	5.3%	5.9%	5.8%
Private drive or entrance	0.6%	2.7%	2.9%	2.9%
Mini-roundabout	0.4%	2.1%	2.6%	2.5%
Unknown	0.0%	0.8%	2.3%	1.9%
Junction - more than 4 arms (not roundabout)	0.9%	1.5%	1.6%	1.6%
Slip road	0.6%	0.7%	0.7%	0.7%

10. Contributory factors in collisions

Contributory factors provide an insight into how and why collisions occur. The factors are largely subjective as they reflect the opinion of the reporting police officer. They are assigned quickly at the occurrence of the collision and often without extensive investigations and so should be interpreted with caution. They are likely to be affected in part by preconceptions police officers have of certain vehicle groups. A maximum of 6 factors can be recorded for each collision.

Table 5 shows the 10 most common contributory factors that have been allocated to pedal cyclists that have been involved in fatal or serious collisions (FSC) (between 2019 and 2023) and contrasts this with the number allocated to non-pedal cyclists in these collisions.

The 3 most common contributory factor assigned to both pedal cyclists and other vehicle types was ‘failed to look properly’ followed by a failure ‘to judge other person’s path or speed’ and ‘driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry’.

The fourth most common factor allocated to pedal cyclists was ‘cyclist entering the road from pavement’. For other vehicles in collision with them the fourth most common was ‘poor turn or manoeuvre’ .

Table 5: Contributory factors allocated to vehicles involved in fatal or serious collisions with pedal cycle, GB: 2019 to 2023

Contributory Factor	pedal cyclists	non-pedal cyclists	Any vehicle involved
Driver or rider failed to look properly	2,557	5,240	7,797
Driver or rider failed to judge other person`s path or speed	1,154	1,679	2,833
Driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry	961	1,580	2,541
Cyclist entering road from pavement	835	101	935
Poor turn or manoeuvre	467	999	1,467
Rider wearing dark clothing	417	37	454
Loss of control	375	111	486
Travelling too fast for conditions	260	162	422
Not displaying lights at night or in poor visibility	253	16	269
Driver or rider impaired by alcohol	241	128	370

11. Further information

Further information on road collisions and casualties are available from Road Safety Statistics.

Published tables on casualties in reported road collisions are available.

Non-fatal casualties since 2016 have been affected by a large number of police forces changing their reporting systems which has had a large impact on the classification of injuries recorded. Further details of the adjustment for this are in the severity adjustment guidance.

Road collisions and safety statistics guidance including accompanying notes and definitions are available.

Personal travel statistics within Great Britain covering English residents is available from the National Travel Survey.

Road traffic statistics provide estimates of the vehicle miles travelled each year in Great Britain by vehicle type, road category and region.

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14. Contact details

Road safety statistics

Email roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk