Organisation: Department for Transport
Date uploaded: 6th October 2015
Date published/launched: September 2015
The headline figures show 1,775 fatalities on the UK roads in 2014, an increase of 4% (62 deaths) compared to 2013. The report points out that this is still the third lowest year on record, behind 2012 and 2013, and says the increase is not statistically significant.
The report also confirms that the number of people seriously injured in collisions reported to the police rose by 5% to 22,807 in 2014 – the first rise in serious injuries since 1994. There was a total of 194,477 reported casualties in 2014, up 6% from 2013 – the first rise in overall casualties since 1997.
The report points out that traffic levels in 2014 were 2.4% higher than in 2013, which could in part account for the increase in collisions and casualties.
Almost three-quarters of the increase in fatalities were pedestrians. There were 446 pedestrian fatalities in 2014, up 12% (48 deaths) from 2013. There was also a significant rise in the number of cyclists seriously injured, from 3,143 to 3,401. This number has been increasing almost every year since 2004.
The report also examines contributory factors to reported road accidents, the most common of which was drivers failing to look properly, named in 44% of collisions. This factor has remained the most frequently occurring since 2005, when contributory factors were first introduced. The contributory factor ‘loss of control’ was reported in 32% of fatal collisions in 2014.
The impact of the weather on casualty statistics is also evaluated in the report. 2014 was the warmest year on record which, according to the report, often encourages extra trips, thereby increasing exposure. It was also one of the wettest on record with 175mm more rainfall than the Long Term Average (LTA), heightening the risk during travel. The report estimates that had the weather in 2014 been closer to the LTA there would have been 43 fewer fatalities during the year.
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