Accredited official statistics

RRCGB 2025: Introduction and main findings

Published 30 July 2026

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 2025 using the STATS19 reporting system. It provides the principal statistical evidence used to monitor progress towards the targets and Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) set out in the UK road safety strategy.

This release is split into several chapters covering the main areas in STATS19, including injury severity, road user group and the age and sex of casualties. These chapters present patterns shown for 2025 and compare the latest data with previous years to show trends over time. Other variables and a longer time series are available in accompanying data tables, via our interactive casualty dashboard, data download tool and open dataset. This introductory chapter summarises the main findings from the other sections of the release.

These are accredited official statistics^{[footnote 1]} and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in July 2009. For more information, see the about these statistics section.

We welcome any feedback on the statistics, by email to roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk. Details of recent and planned changes and a user feedback survey are also available.

1. Introduction and main findings

Reported road casualty statistics for Great Britain in 2025 show a mixed picture. Reported fatalities continued to fall and remained below pre-pandemic levels (the number of fatalities in 2025 is the lowest recorded outside of years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic), while the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) increased slightly. Casualties of all severities were broadly unchanged compared with 2024. Long-term trends remain positive, with substantial reductions in fatalities, KSIs and overall casualties compared with the mid-2000s.

Great Britain remains one of the safest countries in the world for road safety, with one of the lowest fatality rates per head of population internationally (ranking 4th lowest among countries with data for 2025).

While car occupants accounted for the majority of road casualties in 2025, 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 than for other modes.

In 2025, 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 an injury collision when travelling on a motorway compared to urban or rural roads.

The sections below summarise the main findings from the publication, which are presented in separate chapters which can be accessed from the release page.

1.1 Things you need to know

The figures in this publication are based on data reported to the Department by police forces using the data collection system known as STATS19. 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.

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, available from 2004 onwards, can reliably be used to compare trends over time across the country. More details can be found in our severity adjustments guidance.

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.

Data issues: In previous years, unexpected issues with data collection for some police forces meant that the reliability and accuracy of the recorded road collisions in some 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). Further details can be found in the quality and methodology report.

2. Road safety strategy targets and indicators

The data in this publication are used to monitor progress towards the targets and many of the Safety Performance Indicators (SPIs) within the 2026 road safety strategy. The SPIs chapter summarises the latest data and Chart 1 shows the latest figures for the targets:

• The number of reported killed or seriously injured (KSI) road casualties in Great Britain was 29,918 in 2025, an increase of 3% compared with the 2022 to 2024 baseline average of 28,925.
• The number of reported child KSI casualties (under 16) in Great Britain was 2,432 in 2025, an increase of 3% compared with the 2022 to 2024 baseline average of 2,353.

Chart 1: Overall KSI casualties and child KSI casualties compared to the corresponding baselines and targets, Great Britain, 2015 to 2025

3. Overall casualties by severity

The injury severity chapter shows trends in casualties by severity over recent decades. In 2025:

• There were 1,538 reported road fatalities, 29,918 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties and 127,883 casualties of all severities.

• Road fatalities remain substantially below historic levels (Chart 2). Fatalities have more than halved since 2004 and remain below pre-pandemic levels, with 2025 recording one of the lowest numbers of fatalities outside the pandemic period, a decline of 4% from 1,602 fatalities in 2024.

• KSI casualties have fallen by around a third since 2004 (Chart 3). However, most of this reduction occurred before 2010 and KSI numbers have remained relatively stable over the past decade, excluding the period affected by the pandemic. The 2025 figure was an increase of 4% from 28,876 in 2024.

• Casualties of all severities have fallen by over half since 2004 (Chart 4). Unlike fatalities and KSI casualties, the long-term decline in all casualties has remained relatively steady, though 2025 showed little change from 128,272 in 2024.

• Casualty rates per mile travelled have generally declined over time. This indicates that improvements in road safety have occurred despite long-term growth in traffic volumes. In 2025, there were 4 fatalities, 86 KSI casualties and 369 casualties of all severities per billion vehicle miles travelled.

• Data from police forces using injury-based reporting systems show that most casualties are classified as slight injuries, while less serious injuries account for the majority of serious injuries. More severe injuries such as fractures, internal injuries and serious head injuries are less common but represent a substantial proportion of serious casualties.

Chart 2: Reported road fatalities and fatalities per billion vehicle miles, Great Britain, 1979 to 2025 RAS0102

Chart 3: Reported killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties and KSI casualties per billion vehicle miles, Great Britain, 2004 to 2025 RAS0102

Chart 4: Reported road casualties of all severities and road casualties of all severities per billion vehicle miles, Great Britain, 2004 to 2025 RAS0102

4. Casualties by road user type

The road user type chapter shows patterns and trends in casualties by the type of road user killed or injured:

• Car occupants accounted for the largest share of casualties and killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties. 53% of overall casualties were car occupants in 2025, reflecting the large share of cars in road traffic
• Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists) account for a disproportionately large share of fatalities and KSI casualties compared with their share of traffic. Together these groups made up over half of those killed and seriously injured (KSI) in road collisions and had the highest casualty rates.
• Motorcyclists are the road user group with the highest risk of death and serious injury per mile travelled. Motorcyclists accounted for 25% of road deaths but just 1% of road traffic in 2025
• Recent trends have varied by road user group. Year on year trends should be interpreted with caution, but in 2025, compared with 2024, fatalities fell for car occupants and increased for motorcyclists - the second consecutive year for which this occurred. KSIs increased for vulnerable road users, particularly pedal cyclists.
• Over the past decade, there have been reductions in casualties for the main road user groups. In 2025, KSI numbers were lower than in 2015 for all 4 of the main road user types (cars, pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists), and fatalities were lower for all except motorcyclists.

Chart 5: Reported road fatalities and KSIs by road user type, Great Britain, 2015 to 2025 RAS0201

5. Casualty demographics

The casualty demographics chapter explores casualty patterns by age and sex, which shows that:

• Males accounted for the majority of casualties across all severities, making up 77% of fatalities, 68% of KSIs and 61% of casualties overall (Chart 6)
• People aged 17 to 49 accounted for the largest share of KSI casualties, representing over half of all KSIs in 2025. However, their share has fallen over time as casualty numbers have declined more rapidly among younger age groups than older groups.
• The age profile of road casualties has shifted towards older age groups since 2004. People aged 50 and over accounted for a larger share of fatalities and KSI casualties in 2025 than in 2004.
• Older people were more likely to be killed or seriously injured after becoming a casualty in a road collision. In 2025, people aged 70 and over had the highest proportion of overall casualties that were classified as KSI.
• The types of road user injured varies by age group. Pedestrians accounted for the largest share of KSI casualties among those aged 0 to 16, motorcycle occupants and car drivers among young adults aged 17 to 29, and car drivers and pedestrians among those aged 70 and over.
• When distance travelled is taken into account, casualty risk was highest for younger adults and older pedestrians. Car driver and car passenger KSI rates were highest among people aged 17 to 29, while pedestrian KSI rates were highest among people aged 70 and over.

Chart 6: Number of reported KSI casualties by sex and age group, Great Britain, 2004 to 2025 RAS0202

6. Vehicles involved

The vehicles chapter shows which types of vehicles are most often involved in collisions, and the risk different types of vehicles present to other road users:

• Cars account for the majority of vehicles involved in road collisions. In 2025, 60% of vehicles in fatal collisions, and 69% of vehicles in collisions overall were cars. This reflects the fact that cars account for the majority of road traffic.
• Motorcycles had the highest collision involvement rates when distance travelled is taken into account. Per billion miles travelled, motorcycles were substantially more likely to be involved in fatal, serious and overall injury collisions than any other vehicle type.
• Collision involvement rates have generally fallen over the past two decades. Involvement rates in fatal and serious collisions declined for most vehicle types, with some of the largest reductions seen for heavy goods vehicles.
• The risk posed by a collision varies considerably by vehicle type. While most people killed in collisions involving motorcycles or pedal cycles were the rider or cyclist themselves, the majority of fatalities in collisions involving heavy goods vehicles were other road users.
• Larger vehicles generally present greater risk to other road users. Per vehicle billion miles, the number of other road users killed was highest for buses and coaches followed by heavy goods vehicles in 2025. However, cars were involved in the largest number of fatalities affecting other road users, reflecting the prevalence of cars in traffic.

Chart 7: Number of fatalities in collisions involving different vehicle types, and the proportion that are occupants or users of that vehicle type, Great Britain 2025 RAS0601

7. Road type and environment

Statistics on the number and rate of casualties by road-related variables including road class, area (urban or rural roads) and speed limit are presented in the road type and environment chapter:

• Most fatalities occur on rural roads, while most casualties occur on urban roads. In 2025, rural roads accounted for 60% of fatalities but only 45% of traffic.
• Motorways were the safest roads per mile travelled in 2025 - accounting for only 6% of fatalities despite carrying 21% of traffic, while A-roads accounted for the largest share of fatalities by road class (52%).
• On England’s major roads in 2025, KSI casualty rates were lower on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) than on locally managed A-roads and motorways.
• Single carriageway roads accounted for the majority of collisions - 77% of fatalities, 78% of KSIs and 73% of all casualties in 2025.
• Excluding motorways, most casualties occurred on 30 mph roads, while the largest number of fatalities occurred on 60 mph roads.
• Around half of all casualties resulted from collisions occurring at or within 20 metres of a junction. Most pedestrian casualties occurred more than 50 metres from a pedestrian crossing facility.

Chart 8: Proportion of reported road casualties by severity, and traffic proportion, for different urban or rural classification in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0302

8. Geography and place

The geography and place chapter shows the latest casualty figures and trends for the UK and Great Britain compared to other countries, and for different levels of geography within the UK:

• In 2025, the UK recorded 23.3 road fatalities per million population, placing it among the countries with the lowest road death rates internationally (Chart 9). However, the UK’s recent progress in reducing road deaths has been slower than in several comparable countries.
• Killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualty rates have fallen across all regions of Great Britain since 2004. However, the pace of improvement has slowed in recent years, with KSI rates remaining broadly stable since the mid 2010s in many parts of the country.
• Road casualties are concentrated in areas with the highest population densities and traffic volumes. In 2025, KSIs were predominantly located in major urban areas, and along the busiest transport corridors.
• There is variation in casualty rates between countries and regions of Great Britain. While long term trends have generally improved everywhere, some areas have shown greater reductions in KSIs than others.
• Most local authority areas have seen a reduction in KSIs since 2004. However, the scale of improvement varies considerably between authorities, and a small number have experienced increases over the same period.

Chart 9: Road fatalities per million population by country, 2025 RAS0404

9. Risk behaviours and circumstances

The risk behaviours chapter highlights the behaviours and circumstances commonly associated with increased collision risk or severity, based on STATS19 data and not covered elsewhere in this publication, including the ‘fatal four’ factors and work-related collisions:

• ‘Fatal four’ factors were assigned to nearly two-thirds of fatal collisions in 2025, highlighting the importance of speed, alcohol and drugs, seatbelt non-wearing and mobile device use in the most severe road collisions.
• Speed-related factors were recorded more frequently in fatal collisions than collisions of lower severity. At least one speed-related factor was assigned to 52% of fatal collisions in 2025.
• The latest available drink-drive statistics, covering 2024, show that 14% of all road fatalities involved at least one driver or rider over the legal drink-drive limit. In 2025, 13% of fatal collisions had an “affected by alcohol” road safety factor assigned and 12% had an “affected by drugs” factor assigned.
• Around a quarter of car occupant fatalities with known seatbelt-wearing status were recorded as not wearing a seatbelt.
• At least a quarter of collisions were estimated to involve someone driving or riding for work in 2025
• Road casualties are not evenly distributed across society, with a higher proportion of KSI casualties living in the most deprived 10% of areas than in the least deprived 10%. In 2025, the difference in the proportion of KSI casualties between the most deprived and least deprived 10% was 6 percentage points.

Chart 10: Percentage of collisions with at least one fatal four factor assigned, by severity, Great Britain, 2025 ^{[footnote 2][footnote 3]}

10. Road safety factors

Road safety factors (previously contributory factors) provide some insight into why and how road collisions occur, based on information recorded by police officers typically at the scene or within a short time of the collision. The road safety factors chapter shows the most-commonly recorded factors, and trends over time:

• Behaviour or inexperience factors were the most commonly recorded Road Safety Factors (RSFs). In 2025, 74% of collisions with at least one RSF assigned were assigned a factor from this section, which was the most common for both fatal and non-fatal collisions.
• The pattern of factors recorded in fatal collisions differed from that seen in collisions overall. Speed-related and distraction or impairment factors were more often assigned in fatal collisions, with 52% of fatal collisions being assigned a speed RSF compared to 34% of all collisions and 44% of fatal collisions being assigned a distraction or impairment RSF compared to 29% of all collisions
• Ineffective observation by a driver, rider or pedestrian remained the most commonly assigned individual factor. In 2025, this factor was assigned to 50% of fatal or serious collisions (FSCs), more than twice the proportion of the next most commonly assigned factor.
• Speed-related factors featured prominently in the most severe collisions. Three speed-related factors — travelling too fast for conditions, exceeding the speed limit, and being aggressive, dangerous or reckless — were all among the most commonly assigned factors in fatal collisions.
• RSFs highlight that collisions often result from multiple contributing circumstances. Most collisions with factors recorded were assigned more than one RSF, reflecting the combination of behaviours, conditions and circumstances that can contribute to road collisions.

Chart 11: proportion of collisions by severity with RSFs assigned, by RSF section, Great Britain, 2025 RAS0701

11. Further information

In addition to the chapters summarising the latest patterns and trends, detailed breakdowns of reported road casualties by variables collected within STATS19 are available in the accompanying road safety factsheets, statistical tables and interactive data tools via:

• Factsheets and topic summaries
• Spreadsheet data tables
• Interactive data tools
• Open data

12. About this data

Detailed information about the data used in this chapter, including its strengths and limitations, can be found in the guidance pages.

12.1 STATS19 data

The statistics in this publication are based on data collected through the STATS19 system, which records personal injury road collisions on public roads in Great Britain. STATS19 data are reported to the Department for Transport by police forces using a common national specification, allowing consistent analysis across time and geography. All collisions reported by the police within 30 days 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.

STATS19 is the primary source used to understand long-term trends in road collisions and casualties, and to monitor and evaluate road safety policies and interventions. Its standardised approach enables comparison at local, regional and national level, and provides a long-running time series underpinning road safety analysis.

There is no obligation for people to report all personal injury collisions to the police, and not all collisions are reported to the police, particularly those involving only slight injuries, meaning some types of incidents are under recorded. Therefore these figures do not represent the full range of collisions or casualties in Great Britain.

The quality and completeness of the data can also vary, especially for variables based on officer judgement at the scene. Changes to data collection systems, guidance or reporting practices over time may also affect comparability of trends. For example, recent updates to the STATS19 specification (including the introduction of new variables) may lead to discontinuities in some data series.

12.2 Injury severity reporting

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.

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15. Contact details

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1. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. Accredited Official Statistics Policy – Office for Statistics Regulation ↩

2. RSF figures are based on only collisions where the factors were directly recorded as RSFs, these are therefore only a subset of the overall data. Further details can be found in the the RSF and CF guidance. ↩

3. The total number of collisions used as the denominator calculate these percentages is as follows; Fatal - Speed related - 996, Fatal - Alcohol or drugs - 996, Fatal - Not wearing seatbelt - 1,453, Fatal - Mobile device - 996, Fatal - Any fatal 4 factor - 996, FSC - Speed related - 16,569, FSC - Alcohol or drugs - 16,569, FSC - Not wearing seatbelt - 26,762, FSC - Mobile device - 16,569, FSC - Any fatal 4 factor - 16,569, All collisions - Speed related - 51,431, All collisions - Alcohol or drugs - 51,431, All collisions - Not wearing seatbelt - 102,862, All collisions - Mobile device - 51,431, All collisions - Any fatal 4 factor - 51,431 ↩