Collision Investigation and Prevention

Great Britain enjoys one of the best road safety records in Europe and the world. Despite a huge increase in traffic over the last few decades, the number of people killed on our roads has fallen from around 5,500 per year in the mid-1980s to fewer than 2,000. However, further significant reductions over the last few years have been elusive, challenging the Vision Zero concept promoted by Brake and other road safety organisations..

Statistics on road safety in Great Britain are based on injury accidents reported to the police via the STATS19 system. The DfT produces an annual ‘best estimate’ of the total number of road casualties in Great Britain each year, including those not reported to police, the latter derived primarily from National Travel Survey (NTS) data. The latest such estimates, along with a description of how they have been derived and their limitations, are published annually in ‘Reported Road Casualties Great Britain’.