National newspaper claims 64 motorcyclists killed a day

The Scotsman newspaper has printed an apology after claiming over 23,000 riders died on UK roads in a year.

The paper yesterday stated: ‘There were 23,459 people killed while driving motorcycles in the UK in 2007 and an estimated 16,310 in the first three quarters of 2008.’

Today it has clarified: ‘The report failed to make clear these figures also included motorcyclists injured in the UK. We apologise for the error.’

The real number of riders killed in 2007 was 588 but The Scotsman has failed to state this in its correction.

Assistant News Editor Paul Wilson said: “Our responsibility is to point out it was an error. If people want to find out what the true figure is it’s probably quite easy to do that.”

The original claim would have made motorcycling one of the UK’s biggest killers ahead of bowel cancer.

It comes after a string of newspapers claimed a Suzuki Hayabusa had a top speed of 220mph, more than 30mph faster than the true figure.

Have you read or heard a worse motorcycle fact mix-up? Email: steve.farrell@motorcyclenews.com