Area Profile 2014 – Suffolk Council

In order to gain insight and ensure that interventions are directed appropriately, Suffolk RoadSafe commissioned Road Safety Analysis to produce an Area Profile. This report examines collision risk on Suffolk’s roads and the risk to residents from Suffolk, involved in collisions anywhere.

The report focuses on the following key areas, using a range of appropriate measures including casualty rates per head of population, internal comparisons, trends, age, Mosaic socio-demographic profiling, Index of Multiple Deprivation, home rurality, collisions per KM of road and contributory factor analysis:
• All Resident Casualties
• Resident Pedal Cyclist Casualties
• Child Resident Casualties
• All Resident drivers and Riders involved in Collisions
• Resident Motorcyclists involved in Collisions
• Young Resident Drivers involved in Collisions
• Collisions on All roads
• Collisions on Urban Roads and Rural Roads

The report found that overall trends for local people who become road casualties are fairly encouraging: the county’s resident casualty rate is 6% below the current national level, and there has been an 18% decrease in average annual resident casualties over the last five years. Within Suffolk, the casualty rate varies slightly between districts, with Ipswich exhibiting the highest rate and St Edmundsbury the lowest. About five out of six injured residents (83%) are injured on Suffolk’s roads, with most of the remainder injured in neighbouring counties.

The national trend of young adults experiencing disproportionately high levels of road risk is even more pronounced in Suffolk than elsewhere in the country. Suffolk residents aged 16 to 24 experience a casualty risk rate relative to population that is well over twice the risk for all residents.

Resident child casualty rates are well below the national average in every district of Suffolk except Waveney, and resident child casualties have dropped significantly over the county as a whole in the last five years.

Suffolk residents are involved in collisions as motorcyclists 10% more often than the national norm. Although overall resident motorcyclist involvement has reduced by 13% in the last five years, this decrease is smaller than reductions achieved among other road user groups; motorcyclists are also more likely than others to be killed or seriously injured.

Suffolk’s young resident driver rate is 29% higher than the national norm, although absolute numbers have declined by 27% in the last five years.

On Suffolk’s road network, the overall collision trend is positive, with a decrease of 14% over the last five years. Collision rates per kilometre of road are well below the national average, although this is to be expected since much of the county’s network consists of rural roads.

In conclusion, the overall road safety trend in Suffolk is positive: local residents are at lower risk of being injured than the national average, and collisions on the county’s roads are becoming less frequent. However, significant risk remains, particularly for young adult drivers in rural districts, and both motorcyclists and pedal cyclists in urban areas.

The Suffolk RoadSafe Partners use this information to ensure that resources are directed in the most effective manner.