Bicycle-related accidents and deaths infrastructure in South Korea is expanding rapidly, while related accidents and deaths are slightly down, government data shows.

The Interior Ministry reported that the total length of bicycle lanes reached 27,754 kilometers in 2024, up 882 km from the previous year and 13.4 percent from 2020. Public bicycle provision also rose 6.2 percent to 69,572 units, with usage climbing 2.3 percent year-on-year and 68.4 percent since 2020. Seoul accounted for the largest share, with 75 percent of all trips.

Bicycle accidents and deaths were lower than in 2020, despite much higher use and an increase last year from 2023. There were 5,571 accidents and 75 deaths in 2024, up 8.3 percent and 17.2 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year, but down from 5,667 and 83 in 2020.

Most accidents (66 percent) were linked to riders failing to follow safety rules, followed by signal violations (7 percent) and unsafe crossing of the median line (5 percent).


don@heraldcorp.com