DFT Road Casualties Great Britain 2006: Main results

28 June 2007

The Department for Transport has today published National Statistics on road casualties in Great Britain in 2006, which relate to casualties in accidents reported to the police.

Key results include:

• The number of people killed in road accidents fell, by 1 per cent from 3,201 in 2005 to 3,172 in 2006. 31,845 people were killed or seriously injured in 2006, 1 per cent fewer than in 2005. There were 258,404 road casualties in Great Britain in 2006, 5 per cent less than in 2005.
• Child casualties fell by 9 per cent. The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2006 was 3,294 (down 5 per cent on 2005). Of those, 2,025 were pedestrians, 5 per cent down on 2005. 169 children died on the roads, 20 per cent more than in 2005, this was about the same level as 2004 (166) which at that time was the lowest ever recorded figure.
• Provisional figures indicate that road traffic levels rose by 1 per cent compared to 2005 and the provisional estimate is that the overall casualty rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres (45 per 100 million vehicle kms) was 6 per cent lower than in 2005 (48 casualties per 100 million vehicle kms).
• There were 675 pedestrian deaths, 1 per cent more than in 2005. Killed or serious injured casualties fell by 1 per cent to 7,051. The all pedestrian casualty figure fell to 30,982 in 2006, 7 per cent lower than 2005.
• The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 1 per cent from 148 in 2005 to 146 in 2006. The number of seriously injured rose by 4 per cent to 2,296. However, total casualties among pedal cyclists fell by 2 per cent in 2006 to 16,196.
• There were 599 motorcycle user fatalities in 2006, 5 per cent higher than during 2005. The number of killed or seriously injured remained at about the same level compared to 2005 (down less than 1 percent from 6,508 in 2005 to 6,484 in 2006). The all motorcycle user casualties figure for 2006 of 23,326 is 6 per cent less than in 2005.
• The number of deaths among car users in 2006 was 1,612, 4 per cent less than in the previous year. The number seriously injured fell by 2 per cent to 12,642. Total casualties among car users were 171,000, 4 per cent lower than 2005. Provisional traffic estimates indicate a 1 per cent rise in car and taxi traffic over the period.
• There were 189,161 road accidents involving personal injury in 2006, 5 per cent fewer than in 2005. Of these, 27,872 accidents involved death or serious injury, less than 1 percent fewer than in 2005 (27,942).

More details on the DFT website