Reported Road Casualties in GB

1 November 2012

 The Quarterly Provisional Estimates Q2 2012 is now available.

This publication presents statistics on personal injury accidents in the year ending June 2012 on public roads (including footways) in Great Britain, which became known to the police within 30 days. Despite the overall welcome trend it remans a sad reflection on the true state of our road safety to note that there were nearly 200,000 casualties.

Key points:

• In the year ending June 2012; 1,790 people were killed in reported road accidents, a 6 per cent drop from the year ending June 2011 (1,901). However, the number of people killed or seriously injured in the year ending June 2012 rose to 24,870, a 1 per cent increase compared with the year ending June 2011 (24,610).

• Comparing Q2 2012 against Q2 2011 shows a 6 per cent fall in total deaths and serious injuries, and an 18 per cent fall in deaths alone. However, in general, single quarter comparisons should be treated with caution as data are more subject to distortion by short-term factors such as extreme weather. Q2 2012 saw extremely wet weather across England, which may affect comparison with earlier years.

• Overall for year ending June 2012; there were 148,100 reported injury accidents and 199,740 reported casualties of any severity (slight injuries, serious injuries and fatalities), falls of 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively from to the year ending June 2011 figures. In comparison, motor vehicle traffic levels have risen by 0.1 per cent in the year ending June 2012.
 

Commenting on this overall position IAM notes that: there has been in a fall in vulnerable road user casualties when April-June 2011 is compared to April-June 2012; however there has been a significant rise over the year.
• The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured rose 9 per cent from 2,950 in 2010/11 to 3,210 in 2011/12. This is 27 per cent more than the average between 2005-2009.
• The number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured rose 5 per cent from 5,207 in 2010/11 to 5,450 in 2011/12
• The number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured rose 5 per cent from 5,701 in 2010/11  to 5,970 in 2011/12