There were 1,782 reported road deaths in 2018, according to new figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT).
The trend in the number of fatalities has been broadly flat since 2010. Previously, and particularly between 2006 and 2010, the general trend was for fatalities to fall. Since that point, most of the year-on-year changes are either explained by one-off causes (for instance, the snow in 2010) or natural variation. The DfT says that the evidence points towards Britain being in a period when the fatality numbers are stable and most of the changes relate to random variation.
In 2018, there were 25,484 seriously injured casualties in reported crashes. DfT points out that this figure is not comparable to earlier years due to changes in severity reporting. From 2016 onwards, figures on the severity of injury have been affected by a large number of police forces changing their reporting systems.
Other key findings:
- There was a total of 160,378 casualties of all severities in reported road traffic collisions in 2018. This is six percent lower than in 2017 and is the lowest level on record.
- Accounting for change in traffic, the rate of fatalities per billion vehicle miles has fallen by one percent from 5.43 in 2017 to 5.38 in 2018.
Reported road casualties in Great Britain: main results 2018
