Welcome decline in GB casualties

26 September 2024

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a small decline in reported road casualties in Great Britain with casualty numbers broadly following the trends observed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of fatalities in 2023 is the lowest recorded outside of years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, although fatality figures are relatively small and can fluctuate from year to year. Overall casualties have returned to the steady decline observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the number of killed or seriously injured casualties has fallen less, particularly since 2017, there were an estimated 1,624 fatalities, a decline of 5% compared to 2022.

The Department for Transport (DfT) ha released Reported road casualties Great Britain, annual report: 2023  which shows a decline of 5% compared to the previous year.

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a small decline in reported road casualties in Great Britain with casualty numbers broadly following the trends observed before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of fatalities in 2023 is the lowest recorded. Overall casualties have returned to the steady decline observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, though the number of killed or seriously injured casualties has fallen less, particularly since 2017.

While car occupants accounted for the majority of road casualties in 2023, the highest casualty rates per billion miles travelled were for motorcyclists.

Very few casualties were recorded on motorways, despite motorways accounting for a fifth of all road traffic in Great Britain, indicating that a person is less likely to be involved in a collision when travelling on a motorway compared to urban or rural roads.

In reported road collisions in Great Britain in 2023 , there were an estimated:

• 29,711 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties, little change compared to 2022
• 132,977 casualties of all severities, a decline of 2% compared to 2022
• 5 road fatalities per billion vehicle miles travelled, down 7% compared to 2022

Alongside the main publication and full set of detailed road safety statistical tables, we have also published a range of  road safety factsheets focussed on specific road users or topics, including the official statistics on e-scooter collisions and casualties, and new analyses looking at the ‘fatal 4’ factors based on the new road safety factors classification, and self-reported driver behaviour based on Crime Survey for England and Wales data.