Learning from Tragedy

31 December 2024

PACTS has published a new report which highlights significant gaps in how the UK handles learning from road traffic fatalities and calls for systemic changes to address these issues.

Unlike other transport sectors, road deaths in the UK lack a central investigation body dedicated to learning from each fatal incident, limiting the ability to prevent similar tragedies in future. To bridge these gaps, PACTS has put forward a series of recommendations aimed at improving how fatalities are investigated, documented, and acted upon by relevant authorities.

The report notes that police investigations into road collisions are often focused on apportioning blame. This can overlook broader, systemic factors that may contribute to fatalities, such as the design of the road environment or employer policies on work-related driving.