UK road death statistics figures show no reduction

IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity, said it is concerned by lack of progress in road deaths – and calls for a new focus on driver behaviour. Although cars are getting safer and there has been a step change in new road investment, careless human behaviour and increasing traffic levels are cancelling this out, according to the charity. The UK’s Department of Transport announced this week that there were 1,793 reported road deaths in 2017 - an increase of one on 2016. T
September 27, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Get smart: UK road safety has seven years without progress, says charity IAM RoadSmart
IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity, said it is concerned by lack of progress in road deaths – and calls for a new focus on driver behaviour.

 
Although cars are getting safer and there has been a step change in new road investment, careless human behaviour and increasing traffic levels are cancelling this out, according to the charity.
 
The UK’s Department of Transport announced this week that there were 1,793 reported road deaths in 2017 - an increase of one on 2016.
 
There were 24,831 people seriously injured in reported road traffic accidents in 2017 and 170,993 casualties of all severities.

“Although the number of casualties of all severities in reported road traffic accidents in 2017 is 6% lower than in 2016 and is the lowest level on record, the number of fatalities has increased, albeit by just one,” said Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research.
 
“Road safety in the UK seems to be bumping along the floor with yet another year without real improvement in key fatal injury statistics.
 
“With seven years without progress it is clear that we have an increasingly complex picture of good news, such as safer cars and investment in new roads, being cancelled out by more traffic and a hard core of human behaviour issues that are the most difficult to tackle.”

Highway & Network Management

Related Content

  • UK road safety remains at a level
    October 5, 2018
    There has been little change in road safety in the UK since 2012, according to the latest data. In 2017 there were 1,793 road deaths on the UK road network, compared with 1,792 in 2016. There were 24,831 serious injuries resulting from road crashes in 2017 as well as 170,993 casualties of all types. This last represents a 6% drop from the previous year, despite a 1.1% increase in motor traffic volumes for 2017 compared with 2016. The figure for casualties of all types, 170,993, is in fact the lowest on
    Read More
  • IAM welcomes drop in UK road deaths, but concerned over drink-drive casualties
    August 2, 2013
    The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), Britain’s largest independent road safety charity, has welcomed new UK Department for Transport (DfT) road casualty figures showing a fall in the amount of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents. The DfT reports there were 1, 680 people killed in the year ending March 2013, 10% reduction from 1, 870 in the year ending March 2012. The number of people killed or seriously injured also fell to 23, 660, a 6% decrease.
    Read More
  • IAM and Brake comment on increased UK road crashes
    September 24, 2015
    Both the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and road safety charity Brake have expressed serious concern over official figures showing increased road deaths in the UK. The Department of Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2014 Annual Report says there were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4% compared with 2013. The IAM has called for a raft of measures to reverse the disappointing increase in numbers of people killed and injured on UK roads. It added the number of people
    Read More
  • Increasing fatality and injury levels on UK’s roads
    September 27, 2012
    Concern has been expressed in the UK over the release of accident statistics for 2011 that reveal an increase in road fatalities over the previous year. This is the first national rise in road deaths and serious injuries in 17 years. In all 1,901 people died on the UK’s roads in 2011, an increase of 3% of the figures for 2010 while those seriously injured rose 2% to 23,122. Interestingly, the number of fatalities fell for three types of road user, with a fall of 22% for bus and coach occupants, 10% for moto
    Read More

Highlighted Content