Fatality levels are dropping on UK roads, but some cause for concern

The latest official data from the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) show an overall drop in road-related fatalities. There were 1,760 deaths in road accidents to the year ending in September 2012, a 7% drop from the previous year when there were 1,883 fatalities. A worrying trend however can be seen with regard to vulnerable road users, with an increase in fatalities. The number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured in road crashes during this period increased by 4%, pedestrians by 6% and cyclists
February 11, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The latest official data from the UK’s 5432 Department for Transport (DfT) show an overall drop in road-related fatalities. There were 1,760 deaths in road accidents to the year ending in September 2012, a 7% drop from the previous year when there were 1,883 fatalities. A worrying trend however can be seen with regard to vulnerable road users, with an increase in fatalities. The number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured in road crashes during this period increased by 4%, pedestrians by 6% and cyclists by 8%. In all 5,440 motorcyclists, 6,040 pedestrians and 3,270 cyclists were either killed or seriously injured between October 2011 and September 2012. This data is of concern as it shows accidents amongst vulnerable road users are increasing, the opposite of what is happening for other road users. Crash analysis does show that in the instance of accidents involving cyclists and motorcyclists at least, these road users are significantly less likely to be at fault. Measures to reduce the casualty levels would therefore focus on other road users being more aware.

Other data from the DfT does show some encouraging signs. The number of fatal accidents on major roads (motorways and A roads) fell by 9% while the number of fatal or serious accidents fell by 2%. But the number of fatal and serious accidents rose by 5% on minor roads and similarly 5% on built-up roads.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Risk for elderly on Japanese roads
    January 7, 2016
    Japan’s National Police Agency has revealed that the country’s road death figures increased slightly in 2015 compared with 2014. Total road fatalities for Japan in 2015 stood at 4,117, an increase of 0.1% from the previous year. There were 536,789 crashes in Japan during 2015, which injured 665,126 people. Of particular concern is the data showing that traffic deaths for those aged 65 or over rose by 2.5% to 2,247 in all, a worrying 54.6% of the total road fatality figure. Official information has not so fa
    Read More
  • Myanmar’s poor road safety – cause for concern
    October 13, 2017
    Myanmar’s road safety remains a serious cause for concern. Some improvements have been seen in recent times, but more work needs to be done. There were 74,442 road crashes in Myanmar between the start of 2013 and August 2017. These resulted in 122,520 serious injuries and 28,502 fatalities according to data from the Myanmar Police Force. From January to August 2017, there were 12,250 crashes and 3,556 road fatalities, with 49% of the crashes involving motorcycles.
    Read More
  • Spanish road safety shows continued improvement
    January 5, 2015
    Provisional data from Spain shows a continuing drop in fatal road crashes during 2014. Of note is the fact that the country has already achieved the 2020 target of reducing the death rate to 36/1,000,000 inhabitants. The drop in the death rate was slight, just 2%, but still of importance. The provisional data shows that there were 1,131 fatalities and 4,874 people seriously injured in 2014. And this last is of note as the number of people seriously injured in crashes dropped 8% during 2014 compared with the
    Read More
  • TISPOL Conference: autonomous vehicles high on safety agenda
    February 2, 2017
    Safety and autonomous vehicles exercised the minds of some of Europe’s senior police officers at the recent TISPOL European Traffic Police Network Conference in the UK. The European Union looks like missing its target of halving the number of people killed on its roads each year by 2020. Just when European police forces are trying to get back on target, along comes the autonomous vehicle with all its inherent safety issues.
    Read More

Highlighted Content