Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what conclusions the Road Collision Investigation Project has made on road accidents involving motorcyclists.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In June 2018, the Government announced that the RAC Foundation, supported by £480,000 of Government funding, would lead the trial of an innovative new approach to road casualty investigation alongside police forces. As part of this initiative dedicated teams will be carrying out in-depth research in selected cases to get a better understanding of what is really causing collisions on our roads. These collisions will be analysed in 3 regions over 3 years and will look at collisions covering a range of modes of travel, including motorbikes. The Government will release a final report at the end of the project.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 6 of his Department's publication entitled Facts on motorcyclists casualties, published in June 2015, what the proportion is of (a) car drivers and (b) light van drivers whose contributory factor of their accidents involving motorcyclists was their failure to look properly in each year from 2013 to 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The publication entitled Facts on Motorcyclist Casualties published in June 2015 provided information on the proportion of cars and light goods vehicles allocated the contributory factor ‘failed to look properly’ in accidents involving a motorcyclist casualty where a police officer attended the scene of the accident. These proportions for each year from 2013 to 2017 are presented in the table below.
Since police officers do not always record a contributory factor when they attend a scene, we have also included data showing the proportion for those accidents where a contributory factor was recorded. This is the more commonly presented approach for contributory factors.
Proportion of vehicles involved in accidents with at least one motorcycle casualty and police officer attending where 'Failed to look properly' contributory factor allocated, Great Britain, 2013 to 2017 | |||
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| As a proportion of all vehicles in these accidents | As a proportion of all vehicles in these accidents where at least one contributory factor allocated |
Year | Vehicle |
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2013 | Car | 47.4% | 49.0% |
| Light goods vehicle | 46.8% | 47.5% |
2014 | Car | 47.8% | 49.2% |
| Light goods vehicle | 48.8% | 49.6% |
2015 | Car | 48.6% | 50.3% |
| Light goods vehicle | 45.9% | 47.3% |
2016 | Car | 45.7% | 47.0% |
| Light goods vehicle | 46.2% | 47.3% |
2017 | Car | 40.0% | 40.9% |
| Light goods vehicle | 37.7% | 38.4% |
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| Source: DfT STATS19 |
Using this approach, the proportion of cars and light goods vehicles allocated the contributory factor ‘failed to look properly’ for the years 2009 to 2013 in the 2015 report would have been 48.1% and 48.2% respectively.
Contributory factors assigned by police officers do not assign blame for the accident to any specific road user, however they do provide some insight into why and how road accidents occur. They give an indication of which factors the attending officer thought contributed to the accident. Officers do not need to carry out a full investigation of the incident before allocating contributory factors; they usually use professional judgement about what they can see at the scene.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 189742 to Question 189742 on Motorcycles: Safety, when he plans to publish the refreshed Road Safety Statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department intends to publish the refreshed Road Safety Statement later this year.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Road Safety Statement: Progress Report document published 13 June 2018, what progress has been made since the publication of that document to strengthen the compulsory basic training regime for motorcyclists.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The statement in June 2018 explained that work was in progress on proposals to strengthen the compulsory basic training regime for learner motorcyclists, to ensure a lifetime of safe riding for all riders. The Department and DVSA are working and continue to work to bring these forward including liaising with stakeholders and identifying any areas which may require further consultation.
The forthcoming refreshed Road Safety Statement will focus on four key priority groups including motorcyclists, rural road users, young road users and older road users.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to increase motorcycle safety.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The statement in June 2018 explained that work was in progress on proposals to strengthen the compulsory basic training regime for learner motorcyclists, to ensure a lifetime of safe riding for all riders. The Department and DVSA are working and continue to work to bring these forward including liaising with stakeholders and identifying any areas which may require further consultation.
The forthcoming refreshed Road Safety Statement will focus on four key priority groups including motorcyclists, rural road users, young road users and older road users.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of vehicles on (a) urban roads, (b) rural roads, and (c) motorways that are motorcycles in each year from 2014 to 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department produces estimates of vehicle flows by vehicle type and road type. Based on 2017 estimates, motor-cycles accounted for 0.8% of motor vehicle flow on Britain’s roads.
Proportion of motor vehicles that are motor-cycles by road type and year in Great Britain, 2014 - 2017
Year | (a) Urban Roads | (b) Rural Roads | (c) Motorways | All Roads |
2014 | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.4% | 0.9% |
2015 | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.3% | 0.9% |
2016 | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.9% |
2017 | 1.2% | 0.8% | 0.3% | 0.8% |
Further contextual information can be found on the data.gov.uk website here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/road-traffic-statistics
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that motorcycle awareness is part of the car driving theory test.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s driver testing includes theory questions, hazard perception clips and the practical on road test.
Motorcycle awareness is already part of the car theory test. The multiple choice part of the theory test includes questions about the vulnerability of motorcyclists, particularly in the adverse weather conditions, and about their visibility. The hazard perception part of the theory test includes many hazards involving motorcyclists; every candidate sitting the car theory test sees at least one hazard involving a motorcyclist.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made on the average weekly number of (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries to motorcyclists from 2014 to 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The tables below provide the number of motorcyclists killed and seriously injured between 2014 and 2017 and the weekly average which is derived from this. The annual data can be found in published table RAS30066 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743654/ras30066.ods
Reported motorcycle user casualties, Great Britain, 2014-2017
| Number of casualties |
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Year | Killed | Serious |
| Killed | Serious | ||
2014 | 339 | 5,289 |
| 7 | 101 | ||
2015 | 365 | 5,042 |
| 7 | 97 | ||
2016 | 319 | 5,553 |
| 6 | 106 | ||
2017 | 349 | 5,592 |
| 7 | 107 | ||
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Source: DfT Stats19 | |||||||
Please note that the number of serious injuries provided is as reported by the police. Since 2016, changes in severity reporting systems for a large number of police forces mean that serious injury figures, and to a lesser extent slight injuries, are not comparable with earlier years.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made on the number of motorcyclists (a) killed and (b) seriously injured in each year between 2014 and 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The tables below provide the number of motorcyclists killed and seriously injured between 2014 and 2017 and the weekly average which is derived from this. The annual data can be found in published table RAS30066 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743654/ras30066.ods
Reported motorcycle user casualties, Great Britain, 2014-2017
| Number of casualties |
| Weekly average | ||||
Year | Killed | Serious |
| Killed | Serious | ||
2014 | 339 | 5,289 |
| 7 | 101 | ||
2015 | 365 | 5,042 |
| 7 | 97 | ||
2016 | 319 | 5,553 |
| 6 | 106 | ||
2017 | 349 | 5,592 |
| 7 | 107 | ||
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Source: DfT Stats19 | |||||||
Please note that the number of serious injuries provided is as reported by the police. Since 2016, changes in severity reporting systems for a large number of police forces mean that serious injury figures, and to a lesser extent slight injuries, are not comparable with earlier years.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made on the proportion of motorcycle fatalities that occurred on (a) urban roads, (b) rural roads and (c) motorways in each year between 2014 and 2017.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The table below provides the number and percentage of motorcycle fatalities by road class in Great Britain for the years 2014 to 2017, which are available in published table RAS30018 at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743613/ras30018.ods.
Reported motorcycle fatalities by road class, Great Britain, 2014 to 2017 |
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| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||
| Number | Per cent | Number | Per cent | Number | Per cent | Number | Per cent |
Urban | 97 | 29 | 116 | 32 | 101 | 32 | 95 | 27 |
Rural | 237 | 70 | 241 | 66 | 211 | 66 | 248 | 71 |
Motorways | 5 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
All roads | 339 | 100 | 365 | 100 | 319 | 100 | 349 | 100 |
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| Source: DfT STATS19 | |