UK casualties at lowest level ever

27 June 2013

UK casualty statistics published today show that:

• The number of people killed in road accidents reported to the police decreased to 1,754 in 2012 from 1,901 in 2011 (a fall of 8 per cent). This is the lowest figure since national records began in 1926.
• The number of people seriously injured decreased by 0.4 per cent to 23,039 in 2012 from 23,122 in 2011. This figure is 15 per cent lower than the 2005-09 average.
• The total number of casualties in road accidents reported to the police in 2012 was 195,723, down 4 per cent from the 2011 total. The total number of people seriously injured has fallen by 15 per cent from the 2005-09 average.
• Total reported child causalities (ages 0-15) fell by 11 per cent to 17,251 in 2012. The number of children killed or seriously injured also fell, decreasing by 6 per cent to 2,272 in 2012 from 2,412 in 2011.
• A total of 145,571 personal-injury road accidents were reported to the police in 2012, 4 per cent lower than in 2011 

The full report which is available here also contains an indication of the effect of the unusually high rainfall during the summer.  It suggests that the likely result of this additional rainfall would have been to reduce the number of pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists on Britain’s roads, especially during the spring and summer months. A reduction in exposure in this way may have had the effect of reducing the number of accidents and casualties from these user groups. Other road users, such as car occupants, are less likely to have been affected by the heavy rainfall.

Commenting, IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig said, “The IAM has always warned that failing to match investment in segregated facilities with the growing numbers of cyclists would lead to an increase in death and serious injury and this worrying trend continues.  A ten per cent increase in cycling deaths in a year when the weather suppressed cycling trips is a real red danger signal that simply cannot be ignored.”