Reported road casualties Great Britain, annual report: 2022
Published 28 September 2023
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About this release
This release provides the number of personal injury road traffic casualties in Great Britain that were reported by the police to the Department for Transport in 2022 using the STATS19 reporting system.
This report focuses on severity, road user group, age and sex of these casualties, compared with previous years and over the last decade (that is, since 2012). Other variables and a longer time series are available in accompanying data tables, via our interactive casualty dashboard, data download tool and open dataset.
We welcome any feedback on the statistics, by email to the road safety statistics team.
Impact of coronavirus (COVID-19)
Recent trends in reported road casualties have begun to normalise after the national restrictions implemented from March 2020 onwards following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including periods of lockdown during 2021. Although there were no lockdowns in 2022, comparisons to periods which included the restrictions are affected. For this reason, this publication compares estimates for 2022 with those for 2019, which is the most recent equivalent pre-pandemic year.
More details about the coronavirus restrictions can be found in Coronavirus: a history of English lockdown laws (England only).
1. Headline figures
Chart 1 shows the trend in fatal road casualties over the last 4 decades. Since 1979, there has been a general downward trend in the number of people killed on roads in Great Britain with a flatter trend in the decade since 2010. In 2022, road casualties showed signs of a return to pre-pandemic trends, increasing compared to 2020 and 2021 when casualty numbers were low, largely as a result of periods of lockdown leading to a reduction in road traffic.
In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2022, the final estimates are:
-
1,711 fatalities, a decline of 2% compared to 2019
-
29,742 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties, a decline of 3% compared to 2019
-
135,480 casualties of all severities, a decline of 12% compared to 2019
Considering road collision rates per billion miles travelled, the final estimates show:
-
328 billion vehicle miles travelled in 2022, a return to travel levels seen in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
-
5 road fatalities per billion vehicle miles travelled in 2022, up 2% compared to 2019
The final estimates further show:
-
the road user type with the biggest estimated percentage change for 2022 compared to 2019 for fatalities was pedestrians, which showed a decline of 18%
-
in 2022, 76% of fatalities and 62% of casualties of all severities were male
-
in international comparisons for 2022, Great Britain ranked 5 out of 38 countries with available data for lowest number of road fatalities per million population
Chart 1: Reported road fatalities in Great Britain, 1979 to 2022
Statistical summary
Between 2021 and 2022, there was an increase in reported road casualties in Great Britain with casualty numbers broadly showing a return to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While car occupants accounted for the majority of road casualties in 2022, the highest casualty rates per billion miles travelled were for motorcyclists, indicating that a person is more likely to be injured on the road when travelling by motorcycle.
In 2022, very few casualties were recorded on motorways, despite motorways accounting for a fifth of all road traffic in Great Britain, indicating that a person is less likely to be involved in a collision when travelling on a motorway compared to urban or rural roads.
2. Things you need to know
2.1 Severity adjustment
The figures in this release for injured casualties are based on adjusting figures reported by the police to take account of changes in the reporting of injury severity by some police forces in recent years. These adjusted figures can reliably be used to compare trends over time across the country. More details can be found in our severity adjustments guidance.
2.2 Data coverage
There is no obligation for people to report all personal injury collisions to the police. These figures, therefore, do not represent the full range of all collisions or casualties in Great Britain. All collisions reported by the police and that occurred on a public highway involving at least one motor vehicle, horse rider or pedal cyclist, and where at least one person was injured, are included in these statistics.
Unexpected issues with data collection for 2 police forces - Avon and Somerset Police, and Staffordshire Police - mean the reliability and accuracy of the recorded road collisions in these 2 regions cannot be guaranteed as some collisions may have been misrecorded or not recorded at all. This is unlikely to noticeably impact on the overall Great Britain road collision trends, but caution should be applied when considering geographical breakdowns by police force area (RAS0401) and local authority (RAS0403).
More information on STATS19, how road traffic casualty data is collected from police forces and how these figures are produced can be found in the accompanying guidance.
3. Overall casualties and rates
This report considers casualty patterns both in terms of absolute counts and in terms of casualty rates taking into account distance travelled. Casualty rates are calculated by dividing counts by vehicle or pedestrian mileage.
3.1 Casualties by severity
Casualties are broken down into fatalities (people killed in road collisions), and those injured (further split into seriously and slightly injured based on type of injury sustained). Killed and seriously injured casualties are commonly grouped together as ‘KSIs’.
It has long been known that non-fatal (and particularly slight) casualties are under-reported to the police, though we believe that the trends shown are likely to reflect genuine changes. Further information is available in the quality section below.
Chart 2 and Table 1 show the trend in road casualties by severity over the last decade. Trends in road casualties are affected by a wide range of factors, with 2020 and 2021 being impacted by COVID-19. There is an increase in casualty numbers between 2021 and 2022 - this is due to the impact of national restrictions on 2021 casualty numbers. In the decade prior to the pandemic in 2020, fatalities had been generally stable. 2022 broadly shows a return to pre-pandemic trends.
Casualty counts are also impacted by traffic levels with casualty trends following a broadly similar pattern to motor traffic (in terms of billion vehicle miles) during periods of national COVID-19 lockdown. Trends in casualty rates are further explored in the next section. In 2022, there were 328 billion vehicle miles travelled, down 4% compared to 2019.
In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2022, there were an estimated:
-
1,711 fatalities, a decline of 2% compared to 2019
-
29,742 KSI casualties, a decline of 3% compared to 2019
-
135,480 casualties of all severities, a decline of 12% compared to 2019
Chart 2: Reported road casualties by severity and all road traffic (billion vehicle miles) in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 RAS0201
Table 1: Reported road casualties by severity in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Severity | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killed | 1,711 | -2 | -2 |
| Seriously injured (adjusted) | 28,031 | -3 | -15 |
| KSI (adjusted) | 29,742 | -3 | -15 |
| Slightly injured (adjusted) | 105,738 | -14 | -34 |
| All casualties | 135,480 | -12 | -31 |
| Traffic (billion vehicle miles) | 328 | -4 | 6 |
3.2 Trends in casualty rates
Chart 3 and Table 2 show the trend in road casualty rates over the last decade. The patterns in casualty numbers shown above largely reflect changes in traffic patterns, therefore overall casualty rates have remained broadly stable over recent years. This indicates that the reductions in casualties have been associated with reductions in traffic, largely during periods of COVID-19 lockdown. Over the past decade, casualty rates in general fell steadily prior to 2020, with larger reductions in injured casualties than fatalities. This was a period where vehicle traffic increased steadily.
In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2022, there were an estimated:
-
5 fatalities per billion vehicle miles travelled, an increase of 2% compared to 2019
-
91 KSI casualties per billion vehicle miles travelled, an increase of 2% compared to 2019
-
413 casualties of all severities per billion vehicle miles travelled, a decline of 8% compared to 2019
Chart 3: Reported road casualty rates per billion vehicle miles by severity in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 RAS0201
Table 2: Reported road casualty rates per billion vehicle miles by severity in Great Britain, 2022 compared to 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Severity | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatalites per billion vehicle miles | 5 | 2 | -8 |
| KSIs per billion vehicle miles | 91 | 2 | -20 |
| Casualties per billion vehicle miles | 413 | -8 | -35 |
4. Casualties and rates by road user type
Car occupant casualties accounted for 44% of road fatalities and 53% of all road casualties in 2022, and the majority of road collisions involved at least one car.
Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motorcyclists and e-scooter users. These users have higher casualty rates than other vehicle occupants. However very few other road users are killed in collisions involving pedestrians or cyclists. Our separate road safety factsheets provide more detail on pedal cycle, motorcyclist, pedestrian and e-scooter casualties.
4.1 Vehicles involved in fatal collisions
Chart 4 and Table 3 show the number of fatalities in collisions involving different types of vehicle (note that figures across all vehicle types do not sum to total fatalities, as a collision can involve more than one type of vehicle). This shows that in 2022 most fatalities occurred in collisions involving a car, consistent with 2019 and 2012.
The relationship between vehicles and casualties in collisions is explored further in our road user risk factsheet.
Chart 4: Reported road fatalities in collisions involving different types of vehicles in Great Britain, 2022 compared to 2019 RAS0601
Table 3: Reported road fatalities in collisions involving different types of vehicles in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0601
| Vehicle | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car | 1,331 | -2 | -1 |
| Motorcycle | 361 | 2 | 4 |
| HGV | 220 | -12 | -19 |
| LGV | 214 | 11 | 26 |
| Pedal cycle | 94 | -13 | -24 |
| Bus or coach | 45 | -40 | -39 |
4.2 Fatalities and rates by road user type
The 4 main road user types (car occupants, pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists) are used in the charts below to show comparisons between 2022 and 2019.
Chart 5 and Table 4 show fatalities for different road users over the past decade. This shows that in 2022, the majority of fatalities were car occupants, which increased slightly compared to pre-pandemic levels. Overall, there is no consistent trend in reported fatalities by road user with some users showing decreases compared to 2019 and 2012 (such as pedestrians and pedal cyclists) and other users showing increases (such as motorcyclists).
In 2022, 44% of fatalities were car occupants, 22% were pedestrians, 20% were motorcyclists and 5% were pedal cyclists. Of these 4 road user types, compared to 2019:
-
the biggest percentage change was for pedestrian fatalities, which showed a decline of 18%
-
pedal cyclist fatalities showed a decline of 9%
-
car occupant fatalities showed an increase of 7%
-
motorcyclist fatalities showed an increase of 4%
Chart 5: Reported road fatalities by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 RAS0201
Table 4: Reported road fatalities by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Road user | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car occupants | 788 | 7 | -2 |
| Pedestrians | 385 | -18 | -8 |
| Motorcyclists | 350 | 4 | 7 |
| Pedal cyclists | 91 | -9 | -23 |
| LGV occupants | 40 | -7 | 21 |
| Other vehicle occupants | 31 | -9 | 121 |
| HGV occupants | 23 | 21 | -21 |
| Bus or coach occupants | 3 | -79 | -73 |
‘Other vehicle occupants’ include e-scooters, which account for much of the increase in casualties for this road user category compared to 2019 figures. An annual update on e-scooter casualties for 2022, which are not explicitly covered in this release, is available in our e-scooter factsheet.
Chart 6 and Table 5 show reported road collision fatalities in Great Britain per billion miles travelled for different road users over the past decade. For all road users except pedestrians, rates are calculated from billion vehicle miles travelled (Department for Transport’s Road Traffic Statistics). For pedestrians, rates are calculated from billion miles walked (Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey).
Compared to 2012, the fatality rates for pedal cyclists have continually fallen over the last decade (Chart 6). While for motorcyclists, car occupants and pedestrians fatality rates have remained fairly stable over this time (although there were some decreases for car occupants and pedestrians during COVID-19).
As shown in Table 5, of the 4 main road user types, comparing 2022 to 2019, the biggest percentage change in fatalities per billion miles was for pedestrians, which showed a decrease of 25%. Fatality rates for pedal cyclists and motorcyclists also declined, while car occupants fatality rates showed an increase of 15% from 2019 to 2022.
Chart 6: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road user type in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 (indexed: 2012 = 100) RAS0201
Table 5: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Road user | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorcyclists | 123 | -2 | -3 |
| Pedestrians | 27 | -25 | -26 |
| Pedal cyclists | 23 | -15 | -34 |
| Car occupants | 3 | 15 | -3 |
| Bus or coach occupants | 1 | -76 | -62 |
| HGV occupants | 1 | 20 | -29 |
| LGV occupants | 1 | -14 | -10 |
4.3 All casualties and rates by road user type
Chart 7 and Table 6 show overall road casualties figures (including fatal, serious and slight injuries) for different road users over the past decade. This shows that in 2022, there were decreased road casualty numbers across the majority of different road users, and that most road casualties were car occupants.
In 2022, 53% of casualties were car occupants, 14% were pedestrians, 12% were motorcyclists and 11% were pedal cyclists. Of these 4 road user types, compared to 2019:
-
the biggest percentage change was for car occupant casualties, which showed a decline of 17%
-
there was also a decrease for pedestrian and pedal cyclist casualties, but motorcyclist casualty numbers slightly increased
Chart 7: Reported road casualties by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 RAS0201
Table 6: Reported road casualties by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Road user | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car occupants | 74,379 | -17 | -38 |
| Pedestrians | 19,327 | -11 | -23 |
| Motorcyclists | 16,943 | 4 | -12 |
| Pedal cyclists | 15,693 | -7 | -18 |
| LGV occupants | 3,991 | -2 | -12 |
| Other vehicle occupants | 2,328 | 130 | 80 |
| Bus or coach occupants | 2,134 | -31 | -59 |
| HGV occupants | 685 | -13 | -49 |
‘Other vehicle occupants’ include e-scooters, which account for much of the increase in casualties for this road user category compared to 2019 figures. An annual update on e-scooter casualties for 2022, which are not explicitly covered in this release, is available in our e-scooter factsheet.
Chart 8 and Table 7 show overall reported road casualties in Great Britain per billion miles travelled for different road users over the past decade. This showed that, compared to 2012, road casualty rates have generally decreased over the past decade, but some recent increases have been observed for pedal cyclist and pedestrians (returning to pre-pandemic trends).
As shown in Table 7, of the 4 main road user types, comparing 2022 to 2019, the biggest percentage change in road casualties per billion miles was for pedestrians, which showed a decrease of 19%. Casualty rates for car occupants, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists also showed a decline.
Chart 8: Reported road casualties per billion miles travelled by road user type in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 (indexed: 2012 = 100) RAS0201
Table 7: Reported road casualties per billion miles travelled by road user type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0201
| Road user | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorcyclists | 5,971 | -2 | -20 |
| Pedal cyclists | 4,026 | -13 | -29 |
| Pedestrians | 1,331 | -19 | -38 |
| Bus or coach occupants | 1,033 | -21 | -43 |
| Car occupants | 305 | -10 | -39 |
| LGV occupants | 69 | -9 | -35 |
| HGV occupants | 39 | -14 | -54 |
5. Casualties by age and sex
Chart 9 and Tables 8 and 9 shows road fatalities and all casualties (including fatal, serious and slight injuries) split by both sex and age group. This shows that generally road fatalities and casualties have decreased for both males and females over the last decade (although male numbers remain consistently higher). Larger decreases were observed in road fatality and casualty numbers during periods of COVID-19 lockdown (in 2020 and 2021), followed by a slight increase in 2022 in a return to pre-pandemic levels - this trend was particularly noticeable among those aged 70 and over.
Overall, in 2022:
- 76% of fatalities and 62% of casualties of all severities were male
- 3% of fatalities and 10% of casualties were aged 16 years old and under
- 25% of fatalities and 29% of casualties were aged 17 to 29 years old
- 23% of fatalities and 7% of casualties were aged 70 years old and over
Chart 9: Reported road fatalities and all casualties by age group and sex in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 RAS0202
5.1 Fatalities by age and sex
Across all ages, male road fatality numbers are very similar in 2022 to those observed in 2019, while female road fatality numbers have declined slightly (Table 8). Compared to 2012, the majority of age groups show a decrease in road fatalities, but some increases were observed for those aged 50 to 59 and aged 70 and over, likely reflecting a growing elderly population over the past decade.
In 2022, the age group with the most male fatalities was 30 to 49 year olds with 375 fatalities, which was little change compared to 2019. For females the age group with the most fatalities in 2022 was 70 year olds and over with 153 fatalities, a decline of 17% compared to 2019.
Table 8: Reported road fatalities by age group and sex in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0202
| Sex | Age group (years) | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 0 to 16 | 39 | 30 | -25 |
| Male | 17 to 29 | 347 | 7 | -16 |
| Male | 30 to 49 | 375 | 0 | -2 |
| Male | 50 to 69 | 292 | -9 | 9 |
| Male | 70 and over | 239 | -6 | 9 |
| Male | All ages | 1,292 | -1 | -3 |
| Female | 0 to 16 | 18 | -5 | -14 |
| Female | 17 to 29 | 74 | 6 | -24 |
| Female | 30 to 49 | 88 | 57 | -8 |
| Female | 50 to 69 | 86 | -27 | 9 |
| Female | 70 and over | 153 | -17 | 24 |
| Female | All ages | 419 | -6 | 1 |
5.2 All casualties by age and sex
Overall, both male and female casualty numbers in all age groups have decreased in 2022 compared to 2019 and 2012 (Table 9). However, when considering trends across all ages, this percentage change reduction is greater for females compared to males with the greatest reduction observed in females aged 17 to 29.
In 2022, the age group with the most male casualties was 30 to 49 year olds with 27,486 casualties. For females the 30 to 49 year old age group also had the most casualties in 2022 with 16,276 casualties.
Table 9: Reported road casualties by age group and sex in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0202
| Sex | Age group (years) | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 0 to 16 | 7,954 | -11 | -32 |
| Male | 17 to 29 | 24,973 | -8 | -36 |
| Male | 30 to 49 | 27,486 | -11 | -28 |
| Male | 50 to 69 | 15,749 | -8 | -14 |
| Male | 70 and over | 5,078 | -8 | -9 |
| Male | All ages | 81,240 | -9 | -28 |
| Female | 0 to 16 | 5,350 | -15 | -37 |
| Female | 17 to 29 | 13,652 | -19 | -48 |
| Female | 30 to 49 | 16,276 | -15 | -36 |
| Female | 50 to 69 | 10,696 | -13 | -24 |
| Female | 70 and over | 4,655 | -16 | -21 |
| Female | All ages | 50,629 | -16 | -37 |
6. Casualties by road type
In this report, urban roads are defined as those within an area of population of 10,000 or more in England and Wales or more than 3,000 in Scotland - roads outside of these areas are classified as rural (Department for Transport types of road definitions).
Chart 10 and Table 10 show road fatalities and all road casualties (including fatal, serious and slight injuries) for motorways, rural roads and urban roads.
In 2022, the majority of road fatalities occurred on rural roads, whereas the majority of all casualties occurred on urban roads. Although motorways account for 21% of road traffic, they account for a much smaller proportion of road fatalities (6%) and casualties (4%). By contrast, rural road fatalities (59%) are over represented compared to the proportion of rural road traffic (44%). Similarly, urban roads account for a much higher proportion of road casualties (63%) than their relative traffic level (35%).
Chart 10: Reported road casualties by severity and traffic proportion for different road types in Great Britain, 2022 RAS0302
| Severity | Motorways | Rural roads | Urban roads | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killed | 6% | 59% | 35% | 100% |
| All casualties | 4% | 33% | 63% | 100% |
| Traffic (billion vehicle miles) | 21% | 44% | 35% | 100% |
Table 10: Reported road casualties by severity and road type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0302
| Severity | Road type | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killed | Motorways | 100 | -5 | 14 |
| Killed | Rural roads | 1,018 | 2 | 0 |
| Killed | Urban roads | 593 | -9 | -8 |
| All casualties | Motorways | 5,309 | -20 | -42 |
| All casualties | Rural roads | 44,389 | -11 | -33 |
| All casualties | Urban roads | 85,760 | -11 | -29 |
| Traffic (billion vehicle miles) | Motorways | 68 | -3 | 9 |
| Traffic (billion vehicle miles) | Rural roads | 145 | -5 | 10 |
| Traffic (billion vehicle miles) | Urban roads | 114 | -4 | 1 |
6.1 Fatal rates by road type
Chart 11 and Table 11 show overall reported road fatalities in Great Britain per billion miles travelled for different road types over the past decade. Since 2012, road fatality rates for rural and urban roads have generally decreased (with some fluctuations over the years). Motorway fatality rates are very small overall, but have shown a varied trend over the past decade. In 2022, the greatest fatality rate was on rural roads with 7 people killed per billion miles travelled.
Chart 11: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 (indexed: 2012 = 100) RAS0302
Table 11: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0302
| Road type | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorways | 1 | -2 | 4 |
| Rural roads | 7 | 8 | -10 |
| Urban roads | 5 | -5 | -8 |
6.2 Casualty rates by road type
Chart 12 and Table 12 show overall reported road casualties in Great Britain per billion miles travelled for different road types over the past decade. Compared to 2012, road casualty rates have generally decreased for all road types, with the largest change seen in motorway casualty rates. In 2022, the greatest casualty rate was on urban roads with 750 casualties per billion miles travelled.
Chart 12: Reported road casualties per billion miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2012 to 2022 (indexed: 2012 = 100) RAS0302
Table 12: Reported road casualties per billion miles travelled by road type in Great Britain, 2022 compared with 2019 and 2012 RAS0302
| Road type | 2022 | % change from 2019 | % change from 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorways | 78 | -17 | -47 |
| Rural roads | 306 | -6 | -39 |
| Urban roads | 750 | -8 | -29 |
7. International comparisions
Comparisons between countries are only possible for fatalities per million population, as casualties and traffic data are collected less consistently across different countries. Table RAS0404 compares figures for Great Britain and the United Kingdom with others in Europe and, where data is available, the rest of the world.
Chart 13 shows an international comparison of road fatalities per million population. Figures for Great Britain have been among the lowest in the world for many years. In 2022, Great Britain ranked 5 out of 38 countries with available data for lowest number of road fatalities per million population.
Further information about comparisons in road safety progress between countries is available in the European Transport Safety Council’s Performance Index (PIN) for European countries, and the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) report for worldwide countries.
Chart 13: Road fatalities per million population by country, 2022 RAS0404
| Country | Road fatalities per million population |
|---|---|
| Norway | 21 |
| Sweden | 22 |
| Iceland | 23 |
| Japan | 26 |
| Great Britain | 26 |
| Denmark | 26 |
| Switzerland | 27 |
| Northern Ireland | 29 |
| Irish Republic | 31 |
| Germany | 33 |
| Finland | 34 |
| Israel | 37 |
| Spain | 37 |
| Estonia | 38 |
| Slovenia | 40 |
| Cyprus | 41 |
| Austria | 41 |
| Netherlands | 42 |
| Lithuania | 43 |
| Australia | 44 |
| Slovakia | 45 |
| Belgium | 45 |
| France | 48 |
| Malta | 49 |
| Czech Republic | 49 |
| Poland | 50 |
| Republic of Korea | 53 |
| Italy | 54 |
| Hungary | 55 |
| Luxembourg | 56 |
| Portugal | 60 |
| Greece | 60 |
| Latvia | 60 |
| Croatia | 69 |
| Bulgaria | 78 |
| Serbia | 83 |
| Romania | 86 |
| United States of America | 127 |
8. Factors contributing to fatalities
Road collisions occur for a wide range of reasons, including those related to road user behaviour and the roads and vehicles involved. A single collision can be the result of several different factors, so reliably attributing the cause of collisions is difficult. An analysis giving further details was included in the 2019 annual report. However, statistics are available covering several key areas, including the following.
8.1 Contributory factors (RAS0701 to RAS0705)
Contributory factors provide some insight into why and how road collisions occur. They are designed to give insight into the key actions and failures that led directly to the actual impact to aid investigation of how collisions might be prevented. When police officers attend the scene of a collision, they can select up to 6 factors they believe contributed to the collision (for vehicles and casualties involved). This does not assign blame for the collision to any specific road user, but gives an indication of which factors the attending officer thought contributed to the collision.
Officers do not need to carry out a full investigation of the collision before allocating contributory factors - they usually use professional judgement about what they can see at the scene. Not all collisions are included in the contributory factor data - only collisions where the police attended the scene and reported at least one contributory factor. More information about contributory factor assignment and reporting is available in the DfT guide to contributory factors for reported road casualties.
Similar to previous years, in 2022, the top 3 contributory factors assigned to fatal road collisions in Great Britain were (Chart 14):
- Loss of control
- Driver or rider failed to look properly
- Driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry
Chart 14: Top 10 percentage of contributory factors attributed in reported road fatalities in Great Britain, 2022 RAS0701
| Contributory Factor | 2022 (%) |
|---|---|
| Loss of control | 24.4 |
| Driver or rider failed to look properly | 22.3 |
| Driver or rider careless, reckless or in a hurry | 21.8 |
| Exceeding speed limit | 19.7 |
| Driver or rider failed to judge other person`s path or speed | 10.7 |
| Driver or rider impaired by alcohol | 10.4 |
| Poor turn or manoeuvre | 10.3 |
| Travelling too fast for conditions | 8.5 |
| Aggressive driving | 8.3 |
| Driver or rider illness or disability, mental or physical | 8.2 |
8.2 Deprivation
The main measurement of deprivation for England is the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which is a measure of relative deprivation of lower layer super output areas (LSOAs). LSOAs are small areas roughly equivalent to postcode areas, each with a similar population size. IMD ranks the LSOAs in England from most deprived to least deprived, based on 7 different domains of deprivation (income deprivation, employment deprivation, education, skills and training deprivation, health deprivation and disability, crime, barriers to housing and services and living environment deprivation). More information about how IMD is calculated is available in the latest IMD statistics.
Road collision location and casualty home postcode are recorded by police forces for STATS19 road casualty data. This means that the IMD rank of the collision location and casualty home postcode can be added to the data and used for analysis.
Chart 15 shows the percent of road casualties by IMD decile of casualty home postcode for 2022. Generally, there are a higher proportion of road casualties in the more deprived areas. In 2022, the difference in casualties between the most deprived 10% and least deprived 10% IMD decide was 5.5 percentage points.
The relationship between reported road casualties and deprivation in England is explored further in our deprivation factsheet.
Chart 15: Percentage of total road casualties by IMD decile of casualty home postcode, 2022 (England only)
| IMD decile of casualty home postcode | 2022 road casualties (%) |
|---|---|
| Most deprived 10% | 12.3 |
| More deprived 10% to 20% | 12.6 |
| More deprived 20% to 30% | 12.2 |
| More deprived 30% to 40% | 11.4 |
| More deprived 40% to 50% | 10.4 |
| Less deprived 40% to 50% | 9.7 |
| Less deprived 30% to 40% | 8.7 |
| Less deprived 20% to 30% | 8.3 |
| Less deprived 10% to 20% | 7.7 |
| Least deprived 10% | 6.8 |
8.3 Seatbelt non-wearing (RAS0711)
STATS19 records details of whether vehicle occupant casualties were wearing seatbelts, though this information is only mandatory for fatalities. Seatbelt use is recorded by the reporting police officer based on the information available within a short time of the collision occurring, rather than a detailed investigation.
Chart 16 shows the proportion of car occupant fatalities not wearing a seatbelt in 2022 for different occupant types. In 2022 around a fifth of all car occupants were not wearing seatbelts, but this proportion was higher for male car occupant fatalities and occupants travelling in the evening and night (6pm to 8am).
Chart 16: Proportion of car occupant fatalities not wearing a seatbelt in Great Britain, 2022 RAS0711
| Car occupant type | Fatalities not wearing a seatbelt (%) |
|---|---|
| All occupants | 21.0 |
| Female occupants | 10.3 |
| Male occupants | 26.5 |
| Occupants travelling in the daytime (8am to 6pm) | 11.1 |
| Occupants travelling in the evening and night (6pm to 8am) | 41.6 |
8.4 Drink and drug driving (RAS20)
Statistics on drink-driving, based on data from STATS19 as well as coroner reports are published separately. The latest statistics available cover 2021, published in our report on road casualties in Great Britain, involving illegal alcohol levels . The department is also developing statistics on drug-driving. Currently an initial feasibility study has been produced, and it is hoped to develop this further.
9. Other topics
Alongside this publication, data tables are available providing statistics on other topics including.
Road type breakdowns (RAS03): Including urban and rural roads, and casualties on the strategic road network (SRN). More detailed statistics for SRN roads, including smart motorways, are published by National Highways for example in the smart motorway evidence stocktake reports.
Area comparisons (RAS04): Including police force, country, region and local authority breakdowns.
Vehicles and drivers involved (RAS05): Covering vehicles involved in collisions by type, manoeuvre and driver characteristics.
Value of prevention of collisions (RAS40): Covering estimates of preventing report and unreported collisions, derived from STATS19 collision and casualty numbers together with information on average costs from the Transport Analysis Guidance (TAG) data book.
Besides the published tables, users can explore road casualty data in further detail or for specific areas via our interactive dashboard, data download tool and open dataset.
10. Background quality information
Detailed guidance on road casualty statistics is given on our guidance page. A full list of the definitions used in this publication can be found in our notes and definitions documentation.
10.1 Quality and methodology
Quality
Road casualty statistics have been assessed as National Statistics, indicating compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. Full details of the quality of these statistics are available in the background quality report.
There are several important areas which users of the statistics should be aware of which are listed below.
Final estimates
Figures in this release are considered as final estimates and will not usually be revised in future. They are based on complete data from all 42 police authorities in Great Britain (as at 1 September 2023) with no imputation required.
These figures update the provisional estimates published in May following further validation. This validation also impacts parameters used in the adjustment model for severity and therefore estimates for serious injuries, and to a lesser extent, slight injuries, have also changed marginally.
Note, however, that unexpected issues with data collection for 2 police forces - Avon and Somerset Police, and Staffordshire Police - mean the reliability and accuracy of the recorded road collisions in these 2 regions cannot be guaranteed as some collisions may have been misrecorded or not recorded at all. Estimates for these forces may be revised at a later date.
Under-reporting
Comparisons of road collision reports with death registrations show that very few, if any, road collision fatalities are not reported to the police. However, a considerable proportion of non-fatal casualties are not known to the police, as hospital, survey and compensation claims data all indicate a higher number of casualties than those recorded in police collision data. More information on the coherence of the police reported data with alternative sources can be found in our comparison to other sources of information on road casualties.
Changes in reporting systems used by police forces
From 2016 onwards, figures on the severity of injury have been affected by a large number of police forces changing their reporting systems. It is likely that the recording of injury severity is more accurate for forces using these new reporting systems.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Methodology Advisory Service have completed analysis to quantify the effect of the introduction of new injury based reporting systems on the number of slight and serious injuries reported to the police, and to estimate the level of slight and serious injuries as if all police forces were using injury-based reporting systems.
For more information, please see our guide to severity adjustments.
Online self-reporting
Online self-reporting is part of a wider project for digital public contact known as Single Online Home. It is funded by the Home Office to allow people involved in road traffic collisions to report the collision to the police online should they choose to do so, rather than having to physically report it at a police station.
The principle of online reporting is to make it easier for members of the public to report collisions. It is expected that the introduction of online reporting will affect the number of non-fatal (and particularly slight) casualties reported, and therefore impact the total for Great Britain, as the public will have more reporting options available to them. This is particularly likely to impact numbers for slight injuries, which may not have been reported otherwise.
See our analysis of the impact of online self reporting for more details.
10.2 User engagement, developments and STATS19 review
Details of users and uses of road casualty statistics and response to recent user feedback is available from our user engagement page.
The STATS19 system which provides the majority of statistics for this publication is periodically reviewed to keep up with changes in technology, to make improvements to completeness and accuracy, and to reduce the reporting burden. Key recommendations of the latest review, carried out in 2018, can be found in the full STATS19 review report.
10.3 National Statistics and pre-release access
These statistics were designated as National Statistics in July 2009. The continued designation was confirmed in July 2013. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs. More information can be found on our national statistics status webpage.
Details of Ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in our pre-release access list.
11. Instructions for printing and saving
Depending on which browser you use and the type of device you use (such as a mobile or laptop) these instructions may vary.
Tablets and mobile devices normally have the option to “find in text” and “print or save” in their sharing or quick options menu of their browser, but this will vary by device model.
12. How to search
Select Ctrl and F on a Windows laptop or Command and F on a Mac.
This will open a search box in the top right-hand corner of the page. Type the word you are looking for in the search bar and press enter.
Your browser will highlight the word, usually in yellow, wherever it appears on the page. Press enter to move to the next place it appears.
13. Contact details
Road safety statistics
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