Accredited official statistics

RRCGB 2025: Road type and environment

Published 30 July 2026

About this chapter

This chapter examines how reported road collisions and casualties vary by the road environment and infrastructure in which they occur. It brings together information on road location, road class, road type, speed limit, junction detail and pedestrian crossing facilities to describe the circumstances associated with reported road casualties in Great Britain in 2025.

1. Main findings

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

• 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.

Further breakdowns by road type, speed limit, junction type and pedestrian crossing facility are provided in the sections below and in the accompanying data tables.

2. Urban and rural roads

In this report, roads in urban areas 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 roads in rural areas Department for Transport types of road definitions.

This section summarises how casualties vary by the broad location of the road, including roads in urban areas, roads in rural areas and motorways.

2.1 Casualties and traffic by urban or rural classification

This section provides context on where reported road casualties occurred, including roads in urban areas, roads in rural areas and motorways. These results are shown in Chart 1 and Table 1. In 2025:

• The majority of road fatalities occurred on roads in rural areas, whereas the majority of all casualties occurred on roads in urban areas.

• Although motorways account for 21% of road traffic, they account for a much smaller proportion of road fatalities (6%) and casualties (4%).

• Fatalities on roads in rural areas (60%) are over-represented compared to the proportion of traffic on roads in rural areas (45%). Similarly, roads in urban areas account for a much higher proportion of road casualties (62%) than their relative traffic level (34%).

• This indicates that although more casualties occur on roads in urban areas, collisions that happen in rural areas are more likely to have a casualty that is killed.

Chart 1: Proportion of reported road casualties by severity, and traffic proportion, for different urban or rural classification in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0302

Table 1: Number of reported road casualties by severity, and total vehicle miles, for different urban or rural classification in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0302

Road location	Killed	KSI	All casualties	Traffic (billion vehicle miles)
Roads in urban areas	527	17,074	78,689	119.2
Roads in rural areas	923	11,938	44,181	155.1
Motorways	88	905	5,003	71.9

2.2 Casualty rates by urban or rural classification

Data on traffic flows by urban or rural classification are available back to 2009, therefore the following section contains casualty rates per billion vehicle miles for the period 2009 to 2025.

Charts 2 and 3 show reported road fatality and KSI casualty rates per billion vehicle miles by road location from 2009 to 2025. Over this period:

• Motorways generally had the lowest casualty rates.

• Fatality rates were highest on roads in rural areas, while KSI casualty rates were higher on roads in urban areas than on roads in rural areas.

• The rate of both fatal and KSI casualties has declined slightly across all three categories. The decline was largest on roads in rural areas, while the decline on motorways was smaller.

Chart 2: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by urban or rural classification in Great Britain, 2009 to 2025 RAS0302

Chart 3: Reported road casualties killed or seriously injured per billion miles travelled by urban or rural classification in Great Britain, 2009 to 2025 RAS0302

3. Road type and management

This section looks at how casualties vary by the type of road and how parts of the road network are managed, including road class, road type and the strategic road network.

The type of road on which a collision occurs can influence exposure to risk and the severity of outcomes. This section considers road class, road type and the Strategic Road Network, and describes how casualty numbers and severity vary across different parts of the road network.

3.1 Casualties and traffic by road class

Road class defines whether a road is a motorway, A-road, B-road, classified unnumbered road (sometimes called a C-road) or unclassified road. For this report, B-roads, classified unnumbered roads, and unclassified roads are generally grouped together as other roads. This group also includes any collisions where the road class was unknown.

Chart 4 and Table 2 show the proportion and number of casualties that occurred on each class of road, alongside the proportion of vehicle miles driven on each road class. In 2025:

• Motorways accounted for the smallest proportion of casualties, including 6% of fatalities, despite carrying 21% of all traffic.

• A-roads were the largest group in terms of both fatalities and traffic, with over 50% of fatalities occurring on A-roads.

• Other roads accounted for a higher proportion of casualties (52%) than their share of traffic (35%), with over half of overall casualties on these roads.

Chart 4: Proportion of reported road casualties by severity, and traffic proportion, for different road classes in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0302

Table 2: Number of reported road casualties by severity, and total vehicle miles, for different road classes in Great Britain, 2025 RAS0302

Road location	Killed	KSI	All casualties	Traffic (billion vehicle miles)
Motorways	88	905	5,003	71.9
A-Roads	800	13,100	56,566	152.3
Other Roads	650	15,914	66,314	122.0

3.2 Casualty rates by road class

Data on traffic flows by road class are available back to 2009, therefore the following section contains casualty rates per billion vehicle miles for the period 2009 to 2025.

Charts 5 and 6 show reported road fatality and KSI casualty rates per billion vehicle miles by road class from 2009 to 2025. These show that:

• The highest fatality rates have historically been found on A-roads, although in 2025 the rate was similar to that for Other roads.

• The highest KSI rates are found on Other roads.

• Motorways have notably lower rates for both fatalities and KSIs than the other two categories.

• All 3 categories have seen a slight decline in both KSI and fatality rates compared to 2009. There has, however been a slight increase in the Other roads KSI rate over the last 5 years.

Chart 5: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road class in Great Britain, 2009 to 2025 RAS0302

Chart 6: Reported road casualties killed or seriously injured per billion miles travelled by road class in Great Britain, 2009 to 2025 RAS0302

3.3 Casualties on the Strategic Road Network (SRN)

The Strategic Road Network (SRN) consists of motorways and major A-roads in England managed by National Highways. This section compares the number of casualties on the SRN with casualties on locally managed roads in England.

Table 3 shows the number of casualties that occurred on England’s A-roads and Motorways – split by severity and management status. Charts 7 and 8 show the rate of fatalities and KSIs on England’s A-roads and Motorways per billion vehicle miles travelled. Overall these charts show that:

• The largest number of casualties occurred on locally managed A-roads and motorways, followed by SRN A-roads, with a substantially smaller number occurring on SRN motorways.

• Locally managed A-roads and motorways only carry approximately 1.5 times as much traffic as SRN motorways but in 2025 over 3 times as many KSIs occurred on the locally managed A-roads and motorways.

• SRN motorways have the lowest fatality and KSI rates, with locally managed A-roads and motorways having the highest rates.

• All 3 groups have seen a decline in both fatality and KSI rates since 2004. In relative terms, the rate of decline has been greatest for SRN motorways.

Table 3: Number of reported road casualties, and total traffic by severity and road management status, England 2025 RAS0303 (casualties) and TRA41 (traffic).

Road class and management	Killed	KSI	All casualties	Traffic (billion vehicle miles)
SRN Motorways	84	785	4,477	63.3
SRN A-roads	106	1,091	5,119	35.9
Non-SRN Motorways and A-roads	555	10,339	46,821	91.9

Chart 7: Reported road fatalities per billion miles travelled by road management status, England, 2004 to 2025

Chart 8: Reported road casualties killed or seriously injured per billion miles travelled by road management status, England, 2004 to 2025

Further details on casualties on the SRN can be found in the National Highways Road Safety performance overview.

3.4 Casualties by road type

Road type describes the physical form of the road, including single carriageways, dual carriageways, roundabouts and one-way streets. Chart 9 and Table 4 show the proportion and number of casualties that occurred on each of the main road types. In 2025:

• The majority of casualties were on single carriageways.

• Very few casualties happened on either roundabouts or “other” roads.

• The distribution of casualties by road type does not vary substantially by casualty severity.

This pattern has not varied substantially over time.

Chart 9: Proportion of reported road casualties by severity, for different road types in Great Britain, 2025

Table 4: Number of reported road casualties by severity, for different road types in Great Britain, 2025

Road location	Killed	KSI	All casualties
Dual carriageway	280	4,054	19,898
Single carriageway	1,187	23,306	92,850
Roundabout	46	1,417	8,113
Other	25	1,141	7,022

4. Road environment

This section examines features of the road environment recorded at the collision location, including speed limit, junction type and pedestrian crossing facilities.

4.1 Speed limit

Collisions on motorways are excluded from this section – the speed limit presented here is the permanent speed limit of the road, and does not reflect any temporary restrictions that may be in place. Built up areas are defined as those with a speed limit of 40 mph or below, and non-built-up areas have speed limits over 40 mph.

Chart 10 and Table 5 show the proportion and number of reported road casualties in Great Britain by speed limit. In 2025:

• The largest number of casualties and KSIs occurred on roads with a 30 mph speed limit.

• The largest number of fatalities occurred on roads with a 60 mph speed limit.

Chart 10: Proportion of reported road casualties by speed limit (mph) and severity, Great Britain (excluding motorways), 2025 RAS0301

Table 5: Number of reported road casualties by speed limit (mph) and severity, Great Britain (excluding motorways), 2025 RAS0301

Casualty severity	20mph	30mph	40mph	50mph	60mph	70mph
Killed	104	439	177	120	508	102
KSI	4,792	13,289	2,754	1,586	5,700	893
All casualties	22,557	59,536	11,863	6,375	18,457	4,084

Charts 11 and 12 show the number of fatalities and KSIs by speed limit of the road - split between built-up and non-built-up areas. This shows that:

• Most speed limit categories have seen a gradual decrease in KSIs, with larger decreases between 2004 and 2014 and a more gradual decline in the subsequent decade.

• There has been an increase in the number of fatalities and KSIs on roads with a 20 mph speed limit in the past 10 years. There was a corresponding decrease in fatalities and KSIs on roads with a 30 mph speed limit. This reflects the increasing number of roads with a 20mph speed limit.

• The combined number of fatalities and KSIs on roads with 20 mph and 30 mph limits has remained relatively stable over the last 10 years.

Chart 11: Number of reported road fatalities by speed limit (mph) and built-up area status, Great Britain (excluding motorways), 2004 to 2025 RAS0301

Chart 12: Number of reported road casualties killed or seriously injured by speed limit (mph) and built-up area status, Great Britain (excluding motorways), 2004 to 2025 RAS0301

4.2 Junctions

The figures in this section exclude collisions where the junction detail variable was unknown.

Chart 13 and Table 6 show the proportion and number of reported road casualties in Great Britain by their proximity to a junction. In 2025:

• Around half of all casualties occurred at or within 20 metres of a junction.

• Approximately two thirds of fatalities happened in collisions over 20 metres from a junction.

• Where collisions happened at a junction, the most common junction type was “T or staggered junction” followed by “crossroads”.

Chart 13: Proportion of reported road casualties by severity and proximity to a junction, Great Britain, 2025

Table 6: Number of reported road casualties by severity and proximity to a junction, Great Britain, 2025

Junction proximity	Killed	KSI	All casualties
At or within 20 metres of junction	475	13,451	59,398
Not at or within 20 metres of junction	1,016	14,958	58,897

Further information on the number of collisions and casualties by junction type can be found in our open data and interactive data tools.

4.3 Pedestrian crossing facilities

The figures in this section exclude collisions where the pedestrian crossing facility variable was unknown.

Chart 14 and Table 7 show the proportion and number of pedestrian casualties in Great Britain by their proximity to a pedestrian crossing. In 2025:

• The majority of pedestrian casualties occurred at collisions over 50 metres from a crossing facility.

• Fatalities were proportionally more likely to occur away from a crossing facility.

• Where collisions happened at pedestrian crossings, the most common type was a “pedestrian light crossing” followed by “pedestrian phase at a traffic signal”.

Chart 14: Proportion of reported pedestrian casualties by severity and proximity to crossing facilities, Great Britain, 2025

Table 7: Number of reported pedestrian casualties by severity and proximity to crossing facilities, Great Britain, 2025

Pedestrian crossing facilities	Killed	KSI	All casualties
At or within 50 metres of a crossing facility	98	2,235	6,619
No physical crossing facility within 50 metres	266	3,930	12,270

Further information on the number of collisions and casualties at pedestrian crossings can be found in our open data and interactive data tools.

5. Further information

Detailed breakdowns of reported road casualties by road environment and infrastructure are available in the accompanying road safety statistical tables and interactive data tools via:

• Spreadsheet data tables in particular section RAS03:Road type

• Interactive data tools

• Open data

6. About this data

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

6.1 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.

6.2 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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9. Contact details

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