Bicycle traffic deaths rise 13% despite fewer accidents; group insurance covers 90% of population

Bicycle traffic accidents in 2025 fell slightly from the previous year to about 5,200 cases, but fatalities rose.

According to the "2025 Bicycle Use Statistics" released by the Ministry of Interior and Safety on Tuesday, bicycle accidents last year totaled 5,235 — down 6 percent, or 336 cases, from 5,571 in 2024 — but the number of deaths climbed 13 percent, from 75 to 85.

An analysis of accidents by traffic violation found that 3,458 cases, or 66 percent of all bicycle accidents, stemmed from failure to fulfill the duty to drive safely.

Accidents involving riders aged 20 and under increased 2.4 percent, from 1,620 cases in 2024 to 1,659 in 2025. Accidents involving riders aged 61 and older fell 8 percent over the same period, from 1,804 cases to 1,659.

The total length of bicycle paths nationwide reached 28,453 kilometers, up about 699 kilometers, or 2.5 percent, from 27,754 kilometers in 2024. Compared with 25,249 kilometers in 2021, the network has grown by 3,204 kilometers, or 12.7 percent.

By road type, shared bicycle-pedestrian paths accounted for the largest share at 21,033 kilometers (74 percent), followed by dedicated bicycle lanes at 3,875 kilometers (13.6 percent), bicycle-priority roads at 2,458 kilometers (8.6 percent), and bicycle-only traffic lanes at 1,087 kilometers (3.8 percent).

The ministry attributed the expansion to sustained efforts by local governments to build out bicycle path infrastructure in order to promote cycling.

The number of public bicycles in operation reached 71,938, up 3.4 percent, or 2,366 units, from the previous year.

Rental transactions totaled about 52 million, down about 10.3 percent — roughly 6 million — from about 58 million the year before, though still about 30 percent, or roughly 12 million, higher than the approximately 40 million recorded in 2021.

By region, Seoul accounted for the largest share of rentals at 37 million (71 percent), followed by Daejeon at about 5.97 million (11 percent), South Gyeongsang Province at about 5.02 million (10 percent), and Sejong at about 2.62 million (5 percent).

The number of local governments enrolled in group bicycle insurance has also grown consistently, with coverage now extending to more than 90 percent of the population — about 47 million people.

The number of local governments with group insurance rose from 168 in 2023 to 191 last year, an increase of 23.

The national cross-country bicycle route network spans 12 routes totaling 1,857 kilometers. About 53,000 people used the routes in 2025, pushing cumulative ridership since 2012 past 1.08 million.

Jin Myeong-gi, director general for autonomous innovation at the Ministry of Interior and Safety, said the ministry would actively work to expand the cross-country bicycle route network and support safety education in line with local governments' infrastructure development, with the aim of spreading a culture of safe cycling.

The 2025 bicycle use statistics are available for download from the ministry's website under its approved statistics section, as well as from the Bicycle Happy Sharing website.