driving.co.uk

Accident Statistics

It's your fault, you were in my way !

Accident statistics have one message and that is to drive more safely. They remind us that there is a risk that if we're not careful, we might crash and hurt ourselves; members of our family; our friends; colleagues and maybe some strangers.

An estimated half a million people a year are killed world wide as victims of a road accident. Of these approximately 45,000 people are killed on European Community roads. 1.6 million people are injured yearly in the EC.

To give some indication of road accident casualties in the UK, in 2002 there were:

Total fatalities	3,431
Total serious Injuries	35,976
Total slight Injuries	263,198

These figures can be broken down in various ways, including road user type:

Child fatalities	79
Child serious injuries	2,749
Child slight injuries	11,231

Pedestrian fatalities	688
Pedestrian serious injuries	4,956
Pedestrian slight injuries	17,614

Pedal cyclist fatalities	130
Pedal cyclist serious injuries	2,320
Pedal cyclist slight injuries	14,657

Motorcyclist fatalities	609
Motorcyclist serious injuries	6,891
Motorcyclist slight injuries	20,853

Car user fatalities	1,747
Car user serious injuries	16,981
Car user slight injuries	178,697

Bus and coach fatalities	19
Bus and coach serious injuries	532
Bus and coach slight injuries	8.454

Goods vehicle fatalities	133
Goods vehicle serious injuries	1171
Goods vehicle slight injuries	8881

These national statistics are compiled from data derived by police officers attending the scene of injury accidents using an Accident Report form (STATS 19). Each police force area in the UK produces this information.

Main Causes of Road Accidents in London - 2000
The following accident causation data has been provided by the Metropolitan Police Service, Traffic Division at New Scotland Yard. These figures list both the percentage followed by the numbers of crashes.

Driver/Rider

1.	Driver disobeying 'Stop' or 'Give Way' signs or road markings	10.7%	4030
2.	Driver turning right injudiciously	8.9%	3355
3.	Driving too fast having regard for the road environment	8.3%	3123
4.	Driving too fast having regard for other road users	7.6%	2856
5.	Driving too close to the vehicle in front	6.1%	2289
6.	Driver swerved or braked to avoid an accident	3.9%	1484
7.	Driver changing lane injudiciously	3.5%	1337
8.	Driver making a U turn injudiciously	2.5%	937
9.	Driver disobeying Traffic Light	2.2%	847
10.	Driver overtaking on the offside injudiciously	2.2%	838
11.	Other Driver or Rider factor	2.0%	750
12.	Driving when drunk	1.9%	716
13.	Starting injudiciously	1.8%	665
14.	Driver turning left injudiciously	1.7%	650
15.	Reversing injudiciously	1.6%	616
16.	Lost Control - No apparent reason	1.6%	605
17.	Negligently opening or closing door	1.1%	412
18.	Emerging from private drive injudiciously	1.0%	368
19.	Failure to give precedence to pedestrian at zebra crossing	0.9%	352
20.	Driving too close to nearside kerb	0.9%	349
21.	Riding off pavement	0.8%	298
22.	Driving too close to the vehicle alongside	0.8%	298
23.	Failure to give precedence to pedestrian at pelican crossing	0.7%	265
24.	Driving / Riding on wrong side of road	0.7%	247
25.	Distracted by action inside vehicle	0.5%	181
26.	Disobeyed other traffic sign	0.4%	168
27.	Physical Defect / Mental Illness	0.3%	132
28.	Disobeyed white centre lines	0.2%	88
29.	Stopping injudiciously	0.2%	87
30.	Dazzled by sun	0.2%	86
31.	Fell asleep at the wheel	0.2%	84
32.	Distracted by action outside vehicle	0.2%	69
33.	Riding on the pavement	0.1%	53
34.	Failure to signal movement correctly	0.1%	51
35.	Riding across pedestrian crossing	0.1%	38
36.	Emerging from uncontrolled minor road injudiciously	0.0%	17
37.	Inadequate or no lights	0.0%	16
38.	Drugs	0.0%	9
39.	Dazzled by headlights	0.0%	5
40.	Vision affected by atmospheric conditions	0.0%	4


Pedestrian

1.	Crossing over road heedless of traffic	8.8%	3322
2.	Crossing over road masked by parked vehicles	3.4%	1291
3..	Crossing over road heedless of traffic at pedestrian crossing	1.5%	582
4.	Drink or drugs	0.9%	327
5..	Pedestrian in road, not crossing	0.7%	266
6.	Other pedestrian factor	0.6%	222
7.	Physical defect/mental illness	0.0%	18
8.	Tripped over tow rope	0.0%	5


Passenger (Bus & Coach)

1.	Other passenger factor	1.1%	418
2..	Alighting from a bus	0.4%	157
3.	Negligently opening or closing doors	0.4%	143
4.	Boarding bus	0.3%	114
5.	Passenger injured by opening or closing doors	0.0%	14
6.	Fell off platform (not boarding or alighting)	0.0%	6
7.	Holding on to vehicle (stealing a ride)	0.0%	5


Road Environment

1.	Vision obscured by stationary vehicles	0.6%	251
2.	Slippery road (not weather)	0.3%	108
3.	Slippery road (weather conditions)	0.3%	104
4.	Road width restricted by parked vehicle	0.3%	98
5.	Defective traffic lights	0.2%	69
6.	Other road environmental factor	0.2%	60
7.	Defective road surface	0.1%	40
8.	High wind	0.0%	7
9.	Vision obscured by building/fence/vegetation	0.0%	6
10.	Vision obscured by hill crest	0.0%	5
11.	Vision obscured by road sign/street furniture	0.0%	1


Vehicle Defect

1.	Defective Brakes	0.2%	78
2.	Other vehicle factor	0.2%	67
3.	Tyre blow out before impact	0.1%	25
4.	Insecure load	0.1%	24
5.	Defective steering/suspension	0.1%	20
7.	Runaway vehicle	0.1%	19
8.	Defective/illegal tyres	0.0%	12
9.	Broken down unit	0.0%	11
10.	Defective lights	0.0%	5
11.	Overhanging load	0.0%	4
12.	Overladen	0.0%	1

Close to home
Most crashes happen close to home. Some 74% of injury RTAs occur on roads with street lighting (30 mph speed limit) with 60% occurring in daylight hours on a dry road surface. Most weekday RTAs occur between 3pm and 6pm.

Over 3 million accidents involving private cars result in insurance claims every year.

Rear End Shunt
The most common crash is a rear end shunt.

Only a fool breaks the two second rule

The resultant whiplash injuries affect 80,000 people in the UK every year. Whiplash can cause debilitating back, neck and nerve injuries.

Stats 19
The Stats 19 Website

Recorded Crashes
There is no legal requirement to report a crash. Provided that the necessary details have been exchanged, the law has been complied with.

There are estimates produced by the insurance company organisations such as the ABI concerning the number of claims. An estimated 1.5 million damage only accidents 1 in 3 company cars involved in damage only accidents compared with 1 in 4 private cars.

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) and the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) estimate an underreporting of 36%. :

Company Cars
The average annual business mileage is 20,800 while average annual private mileage is 8,600 miles.

The company car accident rate decreases as the annual mileage increases.

Cost of Crashes
Official estimates for the cost of accidents in UK Pounds.

Single fatality	1,089,130
Serious injury	122,380
Slight injury	34,770

Casualty Report 2002
Department for Transport Casualty Statistics

Casualty Report 2003
Department for Transport Casualty Statistics

Stats 19
The Stats 19 Website

Drink - A Problem?
The where some 37,762 injury accidents in London last year of which 716 were caused by a drunk driver. This suggests that the drunk driver problem is considerably overstated. The position of accidents caused by drunk drivers ranks low in the table. Heavy anti drink-drive publicity ensures that public opinion remains in favour of all measures that tighten up the law against drinking drivers, although, this would do little to curb accidents.

Major causes of accidents include sober drivers' failure to judge another road users speed or distance; careless, thoughtless or reckless behaviour and lack of attention. Pedestrians are not always the innocent party in accidents, they too may misjudge situations or be thoughtless crossing the road, especially the 327 last year who caused an accident by drinking or taking drugs.