Why there's still a long way to go on motorcycling fatalities
Promising numbers may not tell the whole story, writes Thomas Mitchell
On any view, a single death on Scotland’s roads is one death too many. However, is the way we measure the success or otherwise of road safety policies correct and should we only look at the number of fatalities and/or serious injuries?
For example, in 2023 there were 27 motorcycling fatalities in Scotland; a concerningly high figure. The problem was compounded in the years that followed; 31 in 2024 and then 34 in 2025. I have expressed my views as to the reasons for this in previous articles, but, in short, the approach adopted by Scotland’s Transport Agency was not having the desired effect – a reduction in fatalities.
As a specialist Personal Injury Lawyer, I spend my working days representing injured motorcyclists and tragically the families of those motorcyclists killed on our roads. However, our obligation to the motorcycling community goes deeper than that. We are motorcyclists too. Our staff ride their motorcycles to work, plan motorcycling holidays with their friends, and are fully signed up members of the “bike life”. So, fed up with perceived or actual inaction from others, we took it upon ourselves to do something about the rising number of fatalities.
We launched the #TakeAnotherLook campaign in February 2024 with a simple message to drivers: take that extra look for a motorcycle before emerging from a junction or carrying out a manoeuvre. The concern for us was, would it work? Would this message take hold, have the desired effect and make a real and meaningful difference to the number of motorcycling fatalities?
As I write this, according to our own figures, motorcycling fatality numbers for 2026 are at 16. In 2025, for the same period (January 2025-September 2025) there were 32. That is a reduction of 50 per cent. That reduction comes about as a direct result of two years of sustained motorcycle road safety activity. Alongside #TakeAnotherLook, we organised a programme of motorcycle road safety roadshows across Scotland.
Working alongside organisations including Police Scotland, IAM RoadSmart and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service/Biker Down Scotland, the roadshows brought motorcyclists together to discuss collision prevention, advanced riding, hazard awareness, driver behaviour and the recurring causes of serious and fatal motorcycle collisions. The 2026 roadshows visited Ayr, Bathgate, Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Inverness. For 2027, we will see the roadshows return as we continue to push for those collision numbers to come down further.
However, the question remains, does this constitute success? How do we measure “success” and what does it mean to have a successful road safety outcome following policy implementation or influence?
Collision statistics in the UK are compiled in something called STATS19. This is the official road traffic casualty and collision database compiled by the Department for Transport (DfT) from Police records.
The problem is it only takes data from collisions the police attend and it relies on the police inputting correct and accurate information, which is not always the case. This creates something researchers call “the iceberg effect”. In essence, the problem may be larger than what you can see on the surface.
So, if we are to take anything from the reduction in motorcycling fatalities this year, it must be a cautionary tale that we might be on the right path, but that there is still much work to do.
Thomas Mitchell is a Partner, RTA Law LLP