The Measurement template document is available at the archived version of this page on the UK Government Web Archive.

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Geographical coverage: Great Britain

Information broken down by: Accident site. Data are available by geographical area, age, gender and type of road user.

Latest data

In 2013:

1,713 people were killed in reported road traffic accidents in Great Britain, 2% (41) fewer than in 2012. This is the lowest number of fatalities since national records began in 1926. The total number of people killed in 2013 was 39% lower than the 2005-09 baseline average

the number of fatalities decreased for pedestrians, pedal cyclists and car occupants, by 5%, 8% and 2% respectively, but increased for motorcycle users by 1%. Over the same period motor vehicle traffic remained broadly stable, with a small increase of 0.4% between 2012 and 2013

with the exception of 2011, road deaths have fallen every year since 2004. Adverse weather (heavy snow falls) experienced in the first and last quarters of 2010 but not in 2011, is likely to be the main factor behind the increase in fatalities recorded in 2011

View this data in an interactive chart

Year Road accident fatalities % change from previous year 2000 3,409 -0.4 2001 3,450 1.2 2002 3,431 -0.6 2003 3,508 2.2 2004 3,221 -8.2 2005 3,201 -0.6 2006 3,175 -0.9 2007 2,946 -7.1 2008 2,538 -13.8 2009 2,222 -12.5 2010 1,850 -16.7 2011 1,901 2.8 2012 1,754 -7.7 2013 1,713 -2.3

The complete set of data is available for download.

Background information

The indicator can be broken down by any geographical area (eg country, region, local authority) since a grid reference is collected for each accident. Information is also available by age, gender, type of road user and road type. Numbers will be relatively small for more detailed breakdowns of the total and may therefore fluctuate from year to year. This needs to be taken into account when assessing trends.

publishing schedule: annual

last updated: September 2014

next update: July 2015

Other related data and information

More detailed analysis and time series can be found in Reported road casualties Great Britain: annual report.

Record level data on accidents and casualties can be found in Record level data

Further information