Skip to main content

UK Road crashes rise for only the second time since 2005

A report by the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Foundation found that 1,775 people were killed and 22,807 hurt on British roads last year. The increase has been attributed to the scrapping of casualty reduction targets for local councils and a cut in funding for road infrastructure safety improvements. The report also cited in-car technology, such as satellite navigation systems – sat-navs - and infotainment systems, as a factor
September 23, 2015 Read time: 1 min
A report by the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety and the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Foundation found that 1,775 people were killed and 22,807 hurt on British roads last year.

The increase has been attributed to the scrapping of casualty reduction targets for local councils and a cut in funding for road infrastructure safety improvements.

The report also cited in-car technology, such as satellite navigation systems – sat-navs - and infotainment systems, as a factor contributing to the rise in accidents.

Cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians account for a larger share of people killed on the roads. This follows a decline in the proportion of car drivers and passengers killed from 50% to 45% over the past five years.

Related Content

  • US pedestrian deaths fall but remain high
    June 27, 2024
    According to analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Association - GHSA – annual US pedestrian traffic deaths fell for first time since the pandemic, but are still above the pre-pandemic level.
  • UK sees accidents rise
    July 12, 2012
    Fifty local councils in England saw more than a ten per cent increase in killed and seriously injured (KSI) crash rates between 2010 and 2011, according to an Institute for Advanced Motorists (IAM) analysis of the new road accident figures. The biggest increases in KSI numbers were in St Helens – 62 per cent, Portsmouth – 57 per cent, Stoke on Trent – 57 per cent, and Coventry – 51 per cent. A further 76 councils saw increases in the KSI rate above the national average of two per cent.
  • Road safety gain for UK in 2013
    June 26, 2014
    The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) reveals that the road fatality rate for 2013 was the lowest since records began in 1926. The data shows that 1,713 people died on the UK’s road network in 2013, around half that of the figure recorded for the year 2000. This reveals an on-going improvement in road safety levels. The DfT statistics show that in 2013, 21,657 people were seriously injured in road crashes, while the total number of casualties of all severities stood at 183,670. Car occupant fatalities in
  • UK road safety gain during pandemic
    October 14, 2021
    The UK has seen a road safety gain during the pandemic.