Accredited official statistics

Reported road casualties in Great Britain: additional analysis and development work

Published 24 September 2026

About this release

Alongside the main Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain (RRCGB) statistical release, published in July, the Department for Transport publishes a range of additional analyses, data products and methodological research to improve understanding of road safety and support future development of official statistics.

This page summarises new analytical outputs, methodological developments, data linkage projects and data table updates published as part of the 2026 RRCGB release programme. It also outlines planned future developments based on user feedback and ongoing research.

1. Overview of additional material

As part of this publication, we have published:

• New analytical products, including a child casualty factsheet, updated younger and older driver analysis, analysis of Fatal 4 factors and a new dashboard for monitoring road safety targets and Safety Performance Indicators.

• Data linkage projects, including joining STATS19 to other datasets including hospital and death registrations data, to support better understanding of the data completeness and quality, as well as where other data sources may provide additional insights

• Methodology development related to aspects of the STATS19 collection, covering work-related collisions, matching collisions to a road network, and the impact of the transition to the new STATS19 specification

• Updated data tables where further details have become available following the publication of final 2025 data in July, including estimated value of prevention of collisions, and a new breakdown of road safety factors by which participant in the collision they were assigned to. 

This report provides a brief overview of the above, together with a summary of recent user feedback and future plans for the development of road casualty statistics.  Further feedback on the statistics and suggestions for improvements to the national publications are welcome via email to the road safety statistics team.

2. Additional analysis

2.1 Child casualties

A new child casualty factsheet has been introduced to provide data for monitoring the child casualty reduction target within the road safety strategy, and provide further data on child casualties in road collisions.  The factsheet provides analysis of child casualties by age, sex, road user type, location and road environment, and is available from the factsheets page.

2.2 Fatal 4 factsheets

We have published a series of related factsheets presenting data on the ‘fatal 4’ factors, which are largely based on data recorded using the new road safety factors recording system, and update previous analyses based on the previous contributory factors data.

Currently the factsheets present data for 2024 and 2025 which has been directly recorded using the RSFs.  It is intended that this analysis will be updated annually as further data becomes available.

2.3 Older and younger drivers

We have updated our factsheet on younger and older car drivers involved in collisions, combining the separate factsheets into one which covers both younger and older drivers together.  This presents a comparison of the number and rate of younger and older driver casualties together with breakdowns by various collision characteristics including time, day, month and location and road environment.

2.4 Safety Performance Indicators dashboard

We have published a new dashboard to present the latest data for monitoring road safety targets and Safety Performance Indicators for the road safety strategy at national and sub-national level, where the data permits. 

The new dashboard is available from the interactive data tools page.  A summary of the national level data is available from the SPI chapter within the main RRCGB publication.

3. Data linkage projects

The department continues to investigate how administrative datasets can be linked with road casualty records to provide additional insight into road safety outcomes. 

3.1 Hospital admissions data

Research linking STATS19 records with health data is being undertaken to improve understanding of casualty outcomes beyond that available from police records alone, and to improve understanding of the completeness and quality of STATS19 data. This includes the Linking Police and Hospital Data on road collisions (LPHD) project in collaboration with the Pre-hospital Research and Audit Network (PRANA).

Phase 1 of this project, published in 2025, attempted linkage of STATS19 with ambulance data.  Phase 2 focuses on linking STATS19 to hospital inpatient admissions.  This work will help improve understanding of injury severity, under-reporting and casualty outcomes, and support future development of road casualty statistics.

3.2 ONS death registrations 

Development work is also being undertaken to link STATS19 records with Office for National Statistics death registrations. This work aims to improve understanding of deaths associated with road traffic incidents, assess completeness of reporting and support future improvements to mortality statistics derived from road safety data.  An update of this work with additional data has been published as part of the STATS19 guidance documentation.

4. Methodology development

4.1 Work-related collisions

Following publication of a factsheet on work-related collisions, work has continued to improve estimates of casualties arising from driving or riding for work, in particular to explore whether it is possible to estimate how many collisions where the STATS19 journey purpose is unknown are work-related collisions.  

The proposed approach and a background methodology paper have been published alongside the existing factsheet on work-related collisions, and are considered as ‘statistics in development’.  We intend to adopt this approach for estimating work-related road collisions from the publication of 2026 statistics (scheduled for summer 2027) onwards, but welcome feedback from users on the methodology before this to inform our final decision. Feedback can be provided by email to roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk.

4.2 Road network matching

The department is developing road network matching methods to improve the geographical accuracy of collision location data. This work investigates approaches for linking collision records more accurately to the road network, supporting improved mapping, analysis and future statistical products. Development work is continuing to assess the quality and potential applications of matched network data.

An initial feasibility study has been published to inform interested users of the approach we are taking to this work.  It is intended that the network matching will be used to improve the classification of rural roads, with an update to be published as part of the 2026 statistics in summer 2027.

4.3 Transition to 2024 specification

Following the latest review of the STATS19 data collection in 2018, police forces continue to transition to the new data specification which implements the recommendations of the review.  Within the 2025 data, 38 out of 44 forces provided some or all data in the new format.

We have updated our report which explores the impact of the new specification on trends and patterns in the dataset for any users interested in this aspect of the collection.

4.4 Understanding injury severity reporting

The introduction of injury-based reporting systems by many police forces has created opportunities to improve understanding of casualty severity.  Development work has explored the use of detailed injury information collected through STATS19, including analysis of injury-based severity measures and consideration of how these data may be used in future publications.

To further understand the coding of injury severity by police officers and others, we have developed a survey, in conjunction with Road Safety GB.  We are seeking participants to complete a 15-minute anonymous survey (available via www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/stats19_injury_severity/) asking how they would record injuries in STATS19 in a range of scenarios. Participation is welcomed from all but we are especially interested in people working with CRASH or other injury-based reporting systems, and police officers with experience attending collisions.  Survey results will be published in 2027 and will help to inform better interpretation and use of STATS19 data.

5. Data table updates

The following tables have been updated alongside this publication:

• Value of prevention of road collisions, table RAS4001

• A comparison of police-reported road casualties with survey data, RAS4201

5.1 New breakdown of road safety factor data

In addition, we have published a new data table, RAS0701_split on road safety factors, presenting data for each factor showing whether it was assigned to a vehicle driver or rider, or a pedestrian casualty (this allows a breakdown for factors that can be assigned to either group, such as ‘affected by drugs’).

5.2 National Travel Survey-based casualty rates

Casualty rates that depend on National Travel Survey (NTS) data were not updated within the main RRCGB release. These measures require NTS data, which become available later than the core road casualty statistics, with 2025 data published on 10 September.

However, casualty rates based on National Travel Survey (NTS) travel diary data have not been updated as part of this release. In 2025, the NTS introduced a new digital-first travel diary, representing one of the largest methodological changes in the survey’s history. The NTS publication notes that the change in data collection appears to have affected the number of some trips recorded within the travel diary, particularly short walking trips and car trips, resulting in lower estimated travel rates compared with previous years. Further work is being undertaken to understand the impact of the change on the comparability of travel diary estimates over time. Pending the outcome of this work, and to avoid introducing potentially misleading changes into road casualty rates based on exposure estimates, we have continued to use previously published NTS-based rates. Updated casualty rates will be considered once the impacts of the methodological changes have been fully assessed.

6. User feedback and future developments 

Alongside the final 2025 casualty statistics (published end July 2026), we set out plans for further development of the statistics, with a request for feedback.  We have also sought feedback through regular engagement activities including conference presentations and webinars, which has been considered in planning future work. 

6.1 Summary of recent user feedback

During August and September 2026, we sought feedback on recent and proposed changes to road casualty statistics.  We received around 20 responses from users including local authorities, road safety organisations, consultants and other stakeholders. Feedback on recent developments was generally positive. Users welcomed the earlier publication of final statistics, the chapter-based publication structure, topic-specific factsheets, enhanced injury severity analysis and improvements to data tables and interactive tools.

A number of common themes emerged from responses. Users highlighted the value of linking STATS19 with hospital admissions, death registration and other administrative datasets to improve understanding of injury severity, casualty outcomes and under-reporting. Respondents also expressed interest in improved road network information, enhanced interactive tools and dashboards, more local-level analysis, and greater understanding of emerging road safety issues such as micromobility, vehicle characteristics and road user behaviour.

The developments described in this publication respond directly to many of these priorities. This includes ongoing work linking police-reported casualties with hospital admissions and death registration data, development of road network matching methods, the new Safety Performance Indicators dashboard, topic-specific factsheets. Feedback will continue to inform future development of road safety statistics.

6.2 Forthcoming changes: monthly casualty reporting

As part of ongoing improvements to road safety statistics, the department is developing a new monthly series of provisional casualty estimates. The new series is intended to provide more timely information on road casualty trends and complement the annual RRCGB publication. Development work will continue during 2026 and 2027, with a focus on ensuring that statistics are robust, transparent and meet user needs.

Further information on the scope and coverage of the new series will be published alongside the provisional statistics scheduled for publication at end November, but it is anticipated to cover England, and to include:

• a high-level data table providing year-to-date casualty estimates by severity and road user type

• a summary of the estimated completeness of the data on which these estimates are based

• a data dashboard providing access to the underlying data where available (similar to that published by Police Scotland)

6.3 Longer term developments

Over the longer term, we aim to continue to develop road casualty statistics, including to address feedback from users of the statistics.

Planned work includes further data linkage research, enhancements to road network information, continued improvements to data tools and dashboards, additional topic-based analysis, and exploration of new approaches to understanding road safety performance and casualty outcomes.   The main priority areas for consideration ahead of the 2026 final RRCGB publication are:

• improving understanding of injury severity reporting, including the consistency of police-recorded injury information and comparison with evidence from linked hospital data

• improving the classification and analysis of rural road collisions

• further analysis of Road Safety Factors, including data quality and consistency, and analysis of people presumed responsible for collisions

• exploring the application of statistical significance testing to published road casualty figures

• improving the identification of e-bikes and related vehicle types in road casualty data

• assessing the impact of online collision reporting on trends in the statistics

These priorities will continue to be reviewed in relation to available resources, emerging priorities and in response to feedback from users of the statistics.

7. Further information

Further road safety statistics are available through:

• factsheets and topic summaries

• spreadsheet data tables

• interactive data tools

• open data releases

These products provide additional detail beyond the main RRCGB publication and support a wide range of policy, operational and research uses.

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10. Contact details

Road safety statistics

Email roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk

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