A further welcome drop in road casualties.

25 June 2009

Three traffic bulletins issued by DFT: Road Casualties in Great Britain : Main Results, Road Statistics 2008: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion and Public attitudes to road network performance show a further welcome drop in road casualties.

In 2008, the number of people killed or seriously injured was 40 per cent below the 1994-98 average; the number of children killed or seriously injured was 59 per cent below the 1994-98 average; and provisional estimates show the slight casualty rate was 36 per cent below the 1994-98 average.

Road Casualties in Great Britain : Main Results: 2008 show:

• The number of people killed in road accidents reported to the police, fell by 14 per cent from 2,946 in 2007 to 2,538 in 2008, 28,567 people were killed or seriously injured in 2008, 7 per cent fewer than in 2007. There were just under 231,000 road casualties in Great Britain in 2008, 7 per cent less than in 2007.
• The number of deaths among car users in 2008 was 1,257, 12 per cent less than in the previous year.
• Child casualties fell by 8 per cent.
• There were 572 pedestrian deaths.
• The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 15 per cent.
• There were 493 motorcycle user fatalities.
• There were 170,500 road accidents involving personal injury reported to the police in 2008, 6 per cent fewer than in 2007. Of these, 25,457 accidents involved death or serious injury, 6 percent fewer than in 2007 (27,036).

More information including a summary and information about under-reporting may be found here

A copy of the bulletin may be downloaded here

The main results tables may be downloaded here

Road Statistics 2008: Traffic, Speeds and Congestion includes the first release of National Statistics on 2008 Road Traffic in Great Britain, Free Flow Vehicle Speeds in Great Britain, and Traffic Speeds on the Strategic Road Network in England . The bulletin also includes further information about congestion on urban and inter-urban roads. Key results include:

Road Traffic in Great Britain

• Between 2007 and 2008, total estimated motor vehicle traffic fell by 4.1 billion vehicle kilometres (0.8 per cent) to 508.9 billion vehicle kilometres. This is the first fall since 1979, but an 11 per cent increase over the decade from 1998.
• Car traffic still accounts for the most significant share of the overall traffic, making up 79 per cent of all motor vehicle traffic. In 2008, car traffic totalled 401.7 billion vehicle kilometres. This is a 0.6 per cent decrease from 2007, and is up by 8.4 per cent since 1998.
• Light van traffic fell for the first time since 1992. Light van traffic was 68.1 billion vehicle kilometres, a 0.4 per cent decrease from 2007, and is up by 34 per cent since 1998.

More information about the bulletin is available here

Public attitudes to network performance provides statistics on public attitudes towards road network performance based on a survey module included in the Office of National statistics’ Omnibus Survey in January and February 2009.