Cycling safety, as the official bodies and researchers publish it.

This section is a reference to what has been published about injury and risk in cycling. It is not a safety course. Riding in traffic and off-road is learned in person from a qualified cycle training instructor, bikes are repaired by qualified mechanics, and injuries are a matter for doctors; nothing on these pages replaces any of them. Road crashes injure and kill cyclists every year: the Department for Transport counted 79 cyclists killed on the roads of Great Britain in 2025 (final figures published 30 July 2026), and NHTSA counted 1,103 in the United States in 2024 (published July 2026, from its annual report file, which a later final file can revise).

How these pages are written

• Every figure has an owner, a year and a release date. Casualty numbers are given with the year they cover, the body that published them and when. Where a figure was revised between releases, the page says so and uses the latest.
• Rules carry their body and date. Concussion minimums, race safety rules and road rules are each given as the named body published them. There is often no single answer: the UCI and AusCycling, for example, set different return-to-competition minimums.
• Road rules carry their status. In the Highway Code, a rule worded "must" is law and a rule worded "should" is guidance; the pages say which is which.
• Disputes show each side. On how much helmets reduce injury, and on whether helmet laws help, each position is given with its source and date, and no verdict.
• Injuries are named, not treated. A suspected injury needs medical care. The pages name injuries from the medical literature and contain no first aid or treatment.
• Nothing here certifies gear. No page says a helmet or e-bike battery is safe or legal; standards, regulators and each body's rules decide that.
• Gaps are admitted. Where a document could not be read or a figure could not be confirmed, the page says so.

What is in this section

Start with what the casualty figures show, which sets out the figures from Great Britain's Department for Transport, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Statistics Netherlands, Transport Scotland and the European Commission, with the revisions between releases and why the countries cannot be lined up against each other.

Two pages cover helmets. Helmet evidence gives each systematic review, from the Cochrane review of 1999 to the 2023 review of meta-analyses, with its effect sizes and the dispute over how large the effect is. The helmet law debate sets out where laws exist and the evidence each side cites.

Concussion protocols gives the UCI's protocol, the Harrogate consensus, AusCycling's 2024 guidelines and the UK guidance, each with its own minimum. Injuries named lists crash injuries, overuse and pressure conditions and bone-health findings as medical reviews report them.

Two pages cover professional racing. Race safety and the UCI reports SafeR, the race incident data, yellow cards, finish rules and barriers. Heat and extreme weather in racing explains the Extreme Weather and High Temperature protocols.

E-bike and e-scooter safety reports the US product regulator's micromobility figures, British e-scooter casualties and battery fire counts from London and New York. Road rules and close passing covers the Highway Code's passing guidance, close passing in crash data, police operations and US passing laws. Training and courses describes Bikeability, British Cycling's coach and ride leader awards, CAN-BIKE and other schemes.

Related reading

What helmets are tested to is on the helmet standards page, independent laboratory ratings are on independent helmet tests, and battery rules are on e-bike batteries and fire safety. The road rules in more depth are on road rules for cyclists, and how people learn is on learning to ride. Terms are explained in the glossary.