What the cyclist casualty figures show, and who counts them.

Every figure below is the publishing body's own count or estimate, given with the year it covers and the date it was released. Casualty statistics are revised: a provisional figure is replaced by a final one, and some adjusted series are re-estimated every year. Where a number changed between releases, the page says so and uses the latest release.

Great Britain: the Department for Transport

How the count works

The Department for Transport (DfT) builds its figures from collisions that police forces report through the STATS19 system, including casualties reported within 30 days. The DfT says not every collision reaches the police, so its numbers undercount, and that non-fatal cyclist casualties are among the most likely to be missing because cyclists are not obliged to report a collision. Injury severity is adjusted for changes in how some forces record it; the adjusted series runs from 2004 and is the one the DfT uses for trends.

2025, from the final release of 30 July 2026

Cycle traffic was 3.67 billion vehicle miles in 2025, up from 3.52 billion in 2024. Between 2004 and 2025, the DfT reports, cyclist deaths fell 41 percent (from 134 to 79) while serious injuries rose 34 percent and cycle traffic rose 42 percent; per mile, the death rate fell 58 percent and the serious injury rate 5 percent. Averaged over 2021 to 2025, about 2 cyclists were killed and 77 seriously injured each week. Across all road users, 1,538 people died on the roads in 2025 (1,602 in 2024), and the DfT said killed or seriously injured casualties rose for vulnerable road users in 2025, particularly cyclists.

Figures that changed between releases

• 2024 serious injuries. The 2024 factsheet (25 September 2025) gave 3,822 cyclists seriously injured (adjusted). The 2025 factsheet (30 July 2026) gives 3,753 for the same year, because the adjusted series is re-estimated each year.
• 2024 deaths. The DfT's provisional 2024 estimates (29 May 2025) gave 85 cyclist deaths; the final figure is 82.
• 2025 deaths. Road Safety GB's report (28 May 2026) of the DfT's provisional 2025 estimates gave 81; the final factsheet gives 79. The same report gave 1,556 road deaths of all kinds for 2025, against 1,538 in the final release.

Who, where and how, 2021 to 2025

• 82 percent of cyclists killed or seriously injured were male. The male to female ratio was about 5 to 1 overall, about 10 to 1 at ages 12 to 15 and about 3 to 1 at ages 25 to 29.
• 54 percent of cyclist deaths were on rural roads, which carry about 30 percent of cycle traffic.
• Collisions between one bicycle and one car accounted for 203 deaths, 45 percent of the total; 75 deaths involved no other vehicle.
• Collisions with a heavy goods vehicle had the highest share of fatal outcomes, 4.8 percent of the cyclist casualties involved (41 deaths).
• 58 percent of deaths happened more than 20 metres from a junction, against about 41 percent of serious injuries.

In fatal or serious collisions in 2024 and 2025, police most often recorded "ineffective observation", for 45 percent of the cyclists and 63 percent of the other vehicles. "Passing too close" was recorded for 14 percent of the other vehicles and 8 percent of the cyclists, and "hard to see" for 21 percent of the cyclists. The DfT warns these factors are subjective and recorded quickly. Its 2024 factsheet showed weekday killed or seriously injured casualties peaking at 7 to 10 am and 4 to 7 pm. The 2024 and 2025 factsheets give no helmet-wearing data and no separate e-bike figures.

Scotland in depth

Transport Scotland's in-depth report on pedal cycles (page undated) covers January 2020 to November 2024. Cyclists were 9 percent of Scotland's road casualties (2,341 of 26,561) against about 1 percent of traffic, in 2,314 collisions, 32 of them fatal. Of the 32 deaths, 16 were on 60 mph roads and 15 on 30 mph roads, and 14 of the 32 fatal collisions were at or near a junction. Another vehicle passing too close was a factor in 9 fatal, 47 serious and 63 slight collisions. A motor vehicle was judged at fault in 19 fatal collisions and the cyclist in 13; the report notes more than one party can be at fault.

United States: NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's fact sheet on 2024 data (DOT HS 813 822, July 2026) counts deaths from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which includes a crash only if it involves a motor vehicle on a public trafficway and someone dies within 30 days. Crashes on private property are excluded. Injury numbers are estimates from a sample, not counts.

The 2023 figure was revised. NHTSA's 2023 fact sheet (DOT HS 813 739, July 2025) gave 1,166 deaths from the annual report file; the 2024 fact sheet gives 1,173 from the final file, which replaces the annual file a year later. The 2024 figure is itself from an annual report file. NHTSA's early estimate for 2025 (DOT HS 813 829, July 2026) projects 1,148 deaths, up 4 percent, but it is a projection, not a count.

In 2024 cyclists were 2.8 percent of all 39,254 US traffic deaths, and NHTSA estimates 52,887 were injured, up 6 percent. 87 percent of those killed were male, their average age was 48, and the highest death rate was among 60 to 64 year olds (0.53 per 100,000). 81 percent of deaths were in urban areas, 60 percent away from intersections, and 52 percent in the dark. Alcohol was reported in 33 percent of fatal cyclist crashes, in the driver, the cyclist or both. Florida (208), California (163) and Texas (79) had the most deaths.

The Netherlands: Statistics Netherlands

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported in April 2026 that 759 people died on Dutch roads in 2025, and that cyclists were the largest group: 281, up from 246 in 2024, ahead of 228 car occupants. CBS attributes the rise to men aged 70 and over (118 deaths, 40 more than in 2024). At least 41 percent of the cyclists killed were riding an e-bike. (For 2024, CBS's release of 17 April 2025 gave at least 44 percent.) A head injury was the main cause of death in 63 percent of cases. Over 2021 to 2025, 42 percent of cyclist deaths were in collisions with a car or van and 31 percent in falls or other single-party crashes. The Dutch-language release carries an erratum notice dated 30 April 2026; we did not check what it corrected.

The European Union

The European Commission's preliminary figures of 24 March 2026, as reported by POLIS, put EU road deaths in 2025 at about 19,400, about 3 percent fewer than in 2024; we could not open the Commission's own page. The release, as reported, said people walking, cycling, on powered two-wheelers or on personal mobility devices made up about 70 percent of urban road deaths in 2024. Reports also give a cyclist share of all EU road deaths, but not the year it covers, and we could not confirm it, so it is not given here.

Why the countries cannot be lined up

Each body uses its own definitions: Great Britain counts police-reported casualties, the US counts only crashes involving a motor vehicle on a public road, and the Dutch figures include falls and other crashes involving no one else. E-bikes are handled differently too: NHTSA has counted e-bike riders as cyclists only since 2022, CBS gives an e-bike share of Dutch cyclist deaths, and the DfT factsheets give no separate e-bike figures. Australian figures could not be read for this page. For what the rules say about passing distances, see road rules and close passing; for e-bike and e-scooter figures, see e-bike and e-scooter safety; and for participation figures, see how many people cycle.