The number of cyclists seriously injured in collisions on the UK’s roads rose by 14 per cent in 2025, though cycling fatalities have continued to fall, the Department for Transport’s latest road casualty statistics have shown.
16,042 cyclists were reported as casualties in road collisions in Great Britain in 2025, making up 13 per cent of all reported road casualties last year. 4,390 people riding bikes were killed or seriously injured in 2025 (15 per cent of all KSIs), while 79 cyclists were killed, comprising five per cent of all deaths on British roads.
The 2025 figures mark the fifth year in a row that cyclist deaths have fallen in Great Britain, dropping from 82 in 2024 and 87 in 2023, and the fifth time, since records began in 1979, that the annual death toll has fallen below 100. Cycling fatalities have also dropped by 21 per cent since 2015.
The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured, however, saw a sharp increase of 14 per cent compared to 2024 (though still two per cent lower than 2015’s figures).
As the Department for Transport notes, non-fatal casualties for 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.
According to the DfT’s ‘Reported road casualties Great Britain 2025’, which outlines and analyses the casualty statistics for all road users, 1,538 people were killed on British roads last year, with car occupants accounting for 629 of those deaths.
Car occupants accounted for the largest share of any road users when it came to casualties, with 41 per cent of fatalities, 38 per cent of KSIs and 53 per cent of overall casualties. Meanwhile, vulnerable road users – cyclists, pedestrians, and motorcyclists – accounted for over half of all fatalities and KSIs, with motorbike riders alone comprising a quarter of all fatalities.
364 pedestrians were also killed in 2025, a drop of 11 per cent compared to 2024, while 19,978 were reported as casualties.
When it comes to what vehicles are involved in road collisions, cars accounted for 60 per cent of vehicles in fatal collisions, and 69 per cent of vehicles in collisions of all severities.
Analysing the likelihood of a vehicle to be involved in a serious or fatal collision, the report found that HGVs were involved in seven per cent of all fatal collisions, compared with two per cent of overall collisions.
In contrast, pedal cycles accounted for four per cent of all vehicles involved in fatal collisions (which also include cyclist deaths), compared with nine per cent of all collisions.
Proportionally, cyclists have the second highest rate of collisions per billion miles travelled, with 4.633 bike-related crashes, and 25 fatalities, for every billion miles (a long way off, however, the 5,529 crashes, and 139 fatalities, per billion miles involving motorcyclists).
92 per cent of all people killed in crashes involving a bike were the cyclists themselves (in contrast, 54 per cent of people killed in collisions involving a car were its driver or passengers).
45 of the 79 cyclists killed last year were in crashes involving a car driver. 10 involved the driver of a light goods vehicle, four a HGV driver, one involved a bus or coach driver, one involved a pedestrian, and two involved another cyclist. 12 cyclists were killed in single-vehicle crashes.
Meanwhile, most pedestrians killed or injured in reported road collisions were hit by motorists in 2025. 245 pedestrians killed were involved in incidents with drivers (67 per cent of all pedestrian fatalities), and overall there were 15,222 pedestrian casualties involving motorists (76 per cent of all pedestrian casualties).
By comparison, cyclists were involved in just two incidents which resulted in a pedestrian fatality in 2025 (one per cent of all pedestrian fatalities), while 718 pedestrians were injured by cyclists (four per cent of all pedestrian casualties).
When it comes to age, cyclists in their 30s and 40s were most likely to be involved in collisions in 2025, with 1,428 crashes. 1,171 bike-related casualties were people in their 50s and 60s, while 529 involved children up to the age of 16.
At least a quarter of collisions were estimated to involve someone driving or riding to or from, or for, work.
13 per cent of all fatal collisions had an “affected by alcohol” road safety factor assigned by police, while and 12 per cent had an “affected by drugs” factor assigned. 32 fatal crashes in 2025 – three per cent of the total – were attributed to people being distracted by their mobile phones.
In a statement responding to the DfT’s findings, IAM RoadSmart’s policy director Nicholas Lyes said they showed a “lost decade in terms of reducing the number of serious casualties and highlights the urgency of implementing measures to improve road safety”.
“An overall increase in the number of killed and seriously injured in 2025 is troubling and we are deeply concerned by the increase in motorcyclist fatalities,” Lyes said.
“Those using two wheels are among the most vulnerable road users and we need a concerted effort to bring these numbers down by reforming licensing and training. The UK Government’s strategy will undoubtedly address some of these issues, but it must be backed by clear timelines, proper funding, and decisive action if we are to meet the ambitious targets the strategy sets out.”
