Accredited official statistics

RRCGB 2025: Risk behaviours and circumstances

Published 30 July 2026

About this chapter

This chapter summarises key statistics on reported collisions in Great Britain involving behaviours and circumstances commonly associated with increased collision risk or severity (not considered in other chapters). It covers the fatal 4 behaviours – speeding, alcohol or drug use, not wearing a seatbelt and mobile device use – as well as differences by journey purpose, deprivation and involvement in hit and run collisions.

1. Main findings

Based on data on road collisions in Great Britain reported to the police up to 2025:

• ‘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 in 2025.

• 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.

Further breakdowns and analysis are available in the sections below and in the accompanying data tables and factsheets.

2. Fatal four

This section covers collisions involving the ‘fatal four’ factors: speed, alcohol and drugs, seatbelt non-wearing and mobile device use. For further analysis on the fatal four, see the fatal four factsheet.

Speed, alcohol, drug and mobile device related behaviours are recorded in STATS19 through Road Safety Factors (RSFs). As these factors are based on officer-recorded information, they should be interpreted as recorded behaviours rather than a complete measure of their involvement in collisions.

2.1 Overall

Chart 1 shows the proportion^{[footnote 1] [footnote 2]} of fatal collisions involving at least one of the fatal four factors. This shows that that in 2025:

• Almost two thirds (63%) of fatal collisions involve at least one of the fatal four factors

• Of the fatal four factors, speed was the most commonly assigned for collisions of all different severities.

• Fatal four factors were assigned to a higher proportion of the serious collisions.

Table 1: Number and percent of reported fatal collisions involving fatal 4 factors, Great Britain, 2025 ^{[footnote 1][footnote 2]}

Fatal 4	Number of collisions	Percent of all fatal collisions (%)
Speed related	518	52
Alcohol or drugs	204	21
Not wearing seatbelt	133	9
Mobile device	32	3
Any fatal 4 factor	630	63

Chart 1: Percentage of collisions with at least one fatal four factor assigned, by severity, Great Britain, 2025 ^{[footnote 1][footnote 2]}

2.2 Speed

Chart 2 shows that in 2025, speed-related road safety factors were more commonly recorded in higher-severity collisions, with at least one speed-related factor assigned to half (52%) of fatal collisions, 38% of fatal or serious collisions and 34% of all collisions^{[footnote 3][footnote 4][footnote 5]}:

• Exceeding the speed limit and travelling too fast for conditions were the most commonly recorded individual speed-related factors.

• Exceeding the speed limit was recorded in 29% of fatal collisions, compared with 16% of fatal or serious collisions and 13% of all collisions.

• Travelling too fast for conditions was recorded in 25% of fatal collisions, 16% of fatal or serious collisions and 15% of all collisions.

For more analysis on speed as a factor, see the Speed factsheet.

Chart 2: Percentage of collisions with at least one speed related factor assigned, by severity, Great Britain, 2025 RAS0701

2.3 Drink and drugs

Two sources of data exist for the assessment of drink and dug driving.

Accredited official statistics on drink-drive casualties provide the definitive estimates of drink-drive fatality numbers. A feasibility study on drug-driving provides a detailed investigation of drug-driving based on toxicology information from coroners.

STATS19 also contains RSF data on drink and drug driving. These are based on the attending officers opinion of the factors that may have contributed to the collision rather than a detailed investigation of the collision circumstances.

Figures based on RSFs are likely to be under-reported by comparison, but allow for more timely analyses of collisions and casualties involved, as well as comparisons between drink and drugs.

Statistics from drink drive data

Statistics on drink-driving are published separately, using STATS19 data alongside information from coroner reports. The latest statistics available cover 2024 and are published in our report on road casualties in Great Britain, involving illegal alcohol levels.

In 2024, 14% of all road fatalities involved at least one driver or rider over the legal drink-drive limit. Drink-drive fatalities fell to an estimated 220, the lowest level in 3 years, but compared with 10 years ago, the percentage of reported road casualties that were drink-drive related has increased.

Statistics from road safety factors

In 2025, 13% of fatal collisions had an “affected by alcohol” RSF assigned and 12% had an “affected by drugs” RSF assigned. Chart 3 shows that these RSFs were recorded more often in fatal collisions than in collisions of lower severities^{[footnote 3]}.

Chart 3: Percentage of collisions with RSF “affected by alcohol” assigned and “affected by drugs” assigned, by severity, Great Britain, 2025 RAS0701

The department is developing statistics on drug-driving. Currently an initial feasibility study has been produced, and it is hoped to develop this further.

See Crime Survey for England and Wales: self reported driver behaviour for analysis of questions on drink and drug driving, based on data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2025.

2.4 Mobile device use

In 2025:

• 3.2% of fatal collisions had the use of a mobile device recorded as a factor ^{[footnote 6]}

• 2% of fatal or serious collisions had the use of a mobile device recorded as a factor ^{[footnote 6]}

• 1.8% of all collisions had the use of a mobile device recorded as a factor ^{[footnote 6]}.

For information about the proportion of drivers observed using a hand-held mobile phone in 2023, see seatbelt and mobile phone use surveys. For analysis of questions on driver mobile phone use, based on data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2025, see Crime Survey for England and Wales: self reported driver behaviour

2.5 Not wearing a seatbelt

Recording of seatbelt-wearing status is only mandatory for fatal car occupants in STATS19. The analysis in this section therefore focuses on car occupant fatalities where seatbelt wearing status was known, whereas Table 1 is based on all fatalities.

Chart 4 shows the proportion of car occupant fatalities not wearing a seatbelt in 2025 for different occupant types. In 2025, around a quarter 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 (8pm to 6am).

Chart 4: Proportion of car occupant fatalities not wearing a seatbelt in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0711

Chart 5 shows that the percentage recorded as not wearing a seatbelt was higher among fatalities aged 17 to 39. The percentage of seatbelt non-wearing is lowest for fatalities 60 and over.

Chart 5: Percentage of car occupant fatalities not wearing a seatbelt by age, Great Britain: 2021 to 2025 RAS0711

For further analysis on demographics, see the demographics chapter. For information on the proportion of drivers and passengers wearing seatbelts whilst driving in 2023, see seatbelt and mobile phone use surveys

3. Journey purpose and driving for work

STATS19 records the journey purpose of drivers or riders in reported road traffic collisions. In 2025, 53% of vehicles had a known journey purpose assigned.

3.1 Overview

Chart 6 shows that, across all collision severities, personal business or leisure was the most commonly recorded journey purpose, followed by journeys made as part of work. In 2025, at least 34% of fatal collisions involved at least one driver or rider travelling for personal business or leisure. This is likely to be an underestimation because journey purpose is recorded as unknown for a large proportion of drivers and riders.

Chart 6: Percentage of reported road collisions by journey purpose and severity, Great Britain, 2021 to 2025 RAS0506

3.2 Driving for work

For a large proportion of drivers in STATS19, the journey purpose is recorded as unknown, so estimates of work-related collisions based purely on the journey purpose variable will under-estimate the true number of such collisions.

To better estimate the number of collisions and casualties involving a driver or rider travelling for work, this driving for work factsheet uses additional assumptions alongside the “driving for work” variable. It estimates that a quarter of collisions involve at least one driver travelling for work.

4. Hit and run collisions

In 2025, there were 108 fatalities in hit and run collisions. Of these, 94 fatalities involved a vehicle that failed to stop at the scene, including 56 pedestrian fatalities. For more data on hit and run collisions and casualties, see data table RAS0602.

5. Casualty 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 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 7 shows the percent of KSI casualties by IMD decile of casualty home postcode for 2025. Generally, there are a higher proportion of road casualties in the more deprived areas. In 2025, the difference in KSI casualties between the most deprived 10% and least deprived 10% IMD decide was 5.9 percentage points.

The relationship between reported road casualties and deprivation in England is explored further in our deprivation factsheet.

Chart 7: Percentage of KSI casualties by IMD decile of casualty home postcode, England, 2025

6. Further information

Further data and guidance related to risk behaviours and circumstances is available via:

• Factsheets covering the ‘fatal four’ and casualties and deprivation

• Spreadsheet data tables, particularly section RAS07: factors contributing to collisions

7. About this data

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

7.1 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.

7.2 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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10. Contact details

Road safety statistics

Email roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk

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1. 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. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. 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 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. RSFs are based on officer judgement, as such they are subject to uncertainty. Recording may be more complete in fatal collisions. ↩ ↩²

4. Unless otherwise stated, RSF percentages are based only on collisions where at least one RSF was assigned, not all reported collisions. ↩

5. More than one RSF can be assigned to the same collision, participant or casualty. This means RSF percentages should not be added together. ↩

6. The “using mobile device” RSF is not limited to drivers using mobile devices. It includes collisions where a driver, casualty or uninjured pedestrian was assigned the RSF “using mobile device”. ↩ ↩² ↩³