Road safety experts call for immediate action as motorcyclist fatalities rise, according to new government figures.
The government’s latest road-casualty figures released this morning confirm a grim reality: motorcyclist deaths are rising, despite years of warnings from road-safety specialists.
Fletchers Solicitors’ Mary Lomas, one of the UK’s leading Motorcycle Injury Specialists, says the data should “shock politicians, drivers and policymakers out of complacency”.
She says: “What I’m seeing day after day is terrifying. Failure to look, careless manoeuvres, drug-impaired driving, and riders are dying because of it. Indicators aren’t being used, lifesaver glances are being forgotten, and too many drivers simply aren’t paying attention. The flip side sees motorcyclists taking too many risks and riding beyond their capabilities”
Mary says the rise isn’t a mystery – it’s the result of a culture that treats motorcyclists as an afterthought.
“Motorcyclists aren’t invisible because they can’t be seen. They’re invisible because drivers aren’t actually looking. Every week I see cases where a basic lifesaver glance may have prevented a devastating collision.”
The spike in fatalities, Mary warns, is the outcome of a “perfect storm”:
- Congested roads increasing conflict points
- Dangerous, deteriorating road surfaces
- Drivers and riders under the influence
- Young, inexperienced riders on powerful bikes
- Older returning riders with outdated skills
- Cheap, low-standard protective gear flooding the market
“This is what happens when you combine high risk with low responsibility.” Mary said.
Mary points to severe gaps in road policing, infrastructure maintenance and public education.
“Budget cuts have hollowed out road safety efforts across the country. We’re relying on emergency services and dedicated safety organisations to hold the line, but they are fighting a rising tide with shrinking resources.”
She says government inaction is putting lives at risk: “Poor surfaces, faded markings, neglected junctions. Riders are simply not being protected.”
Mary also highlights a rising danger that she believes is not being taken seriously enough: drug-impaired road users. She says: “Drug-impaired driving and riding is becoming an issue”.
She also says she has seen more riders and drivers being involved in collisions where they are still impaired from the night before.
As a solicitor dealing in road traffic collisions, and a staunch advocate for the motorcycling community, Mary says the aftermath of a collision extends far beyond the physical injuries.
“The psychological impact – PTSD, fear, trauma – is massively underestimated. For many riders, the mental injury can be more debilitating than the physical one. And all too often, there is an automatic assumption that the motorcyclist is to blame, even when the evidence proves otherwise.”
Responding to the new report and drawing on her experience as a motorbike and road safety campaigner, Mary is emphasising the need for clear, targeted action to reduce motorcyclist casualties.
She is urging decision-makers to focus on improvements that can deliver results in the long term. She outlines a set of proposals for practical road safety improvements:
- Compulsory motorcycle-awareness training in the car driving test.
- A nationwide campaign on indicating, observation and lifesaver checks.
- Immediate investment in fixing dangerous road surfaces and junctions used by riders.
- Zero-tolerance enforcement on drug-impaired driving and riding.
- Police-led education programmes reinstated and expanded.
- Stricter regulation of motorcycle protective gear and retailer accountability.
- Embracing innovation like that seen in Project Prime.
Mary says the situation is now so severe that public attitude must shift.
“We’ve normalised road deaths in a way we would never accept in any other environment. These injuries are not inevitable. They are preventable.”
Source
Reported road casualties in Great Britain, provisional estimates: year ending June 2025 – GOV.UK
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