Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from: DfT Online www.tso.co.uk/bookshop Mail,Telephone, Fax & E-mail TSO PO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN Telephone orders/General enquiries: 0870 600 5522 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533 E-mail: [email protected] Textphone 0870 240 3701 Road Casualties Great Britain 2004: Annual Report TSO Accredited Agents (see Yellow Pages) and through good booksellers Road Casualties Great Britain: 2004 Annual Report £27 www.tso.co.uk DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES ROAD CASUALTIES GREAT BRITAIN 2004 Published September 2005 London: The Stationery Office Department for Transport Great Minster House 76, Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR Telephone 202 7944 8300 Internet service http://www.dft.gov.uk/ © Crown copyright 2005 Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown. This publication may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for research, private study or for internal circulation within an organisation. This is subject to it being reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document/publication specified. This publication can also be accessed at the Department's website. For any other use of this material please apply for a Click-Use Licence at www.hmso.gov.uk/click-use-home.htm, or by writing to HMSO at The Licensing Division, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail to [email protected]. ISBN 0-11-522703-6 Printed in the United Kingdom on material containing 100% post-consumer waste. A National Statistics publication produced by Transport Statistics: DfT National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. Contact Points: For general enquiries call the National Statistics public enquiry service at: Room DG/18, 1 Drummond Gate, London SW1V2QQ. 020-7533 5888, fax 020-7533 6261, E-mail: [email protected] You can also obtain National Statistics through the internet – go to www.statistics.gov.uk. For information relating to Transport Statistics go to www.dft.gov.uk/transtat Prepared for publication by; Linden Francis David Wilson Richard Campbell David Marrott Anil Bhagat Matthew Bollington Valerie Davies DfT is often prepared to sell unpublished data. Further information and queries concerning this publication should be directed to: SR5 2/18 Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR +44 (0)20 7944 – 3078, Fax +44 (0)20 7944 - 2165, E-mail: [email protected] Preface This is the 2004 edition of “Road Casualties Great Britain:2004: Annual Report, renamed from Road Accidents Great Britain - The Casualty Report”. It presents statistics, collected to an agreed national standard, about personal injury road accidents and their consequent casualties. These statistics are used to inform public debate on matters of road safety and to provide both a local and national perspective for road safety problems and their remedies. The first edition of this report covered road casualty numbers in 1951. At that time, there were 4.7 million vehicles in use and the police recorded 178,000 personal injury road accidents. In 2004, the vehicle population stood at 31 million and there were 207, 000 injury accidents. Thus whilst the vehicle stock has grown more than six fold the number of injury accidents has increased by a fifth. Between 1951 and 2004, 302,771 people were killed and 17 million persons were injured in accidents on British roads. Most of the casualties were slightly injured and the numbers of people killed and seriously injured each year have been reducing; however this is still a serious problem. Against this background, in 2000 the government announced a new road safety strategy and casualty reduction targets for 2010 with particular emphasis on child casualties. This volume gives the baseline averages to be used in monitoring these new targets and the first article in this edition reports progress to date. The national road accident statistics are collected and published partly to inform public debate and partly to provide the basis for determining and monitoring effective road safety policies. The credible monitoring of targeted reductions requires that data be reported consistently and accurately. Local and national government, and local police forces, work closely to achieve a common reporting standard. A complex devolved reporting system such as that operated in Great Britain will never produce perfect results, but the high standards that are achieved reflect the efforts of local authorities and police forces to report to the standard national requirement. However readers should note that while very few, if any, fatal accidents do not become known to the police, there is evidence that an appreciable proportion of non-fatal injury accidents are not reported to the police and thus are not included in this publication. In addition research has shown that up to a fifth of casualties reported to the police are not included in the statistical return. Moreover, studies also show that the police tend to underestimate severity of injury because of the difficulty in distinguishing severity at the scene of the accident, and that reporting rates are lower for the more vulnerable road user groups. In addition to the STATS19 data, other data sources directly related to road safety have been used to compile this book. These include death registrations and coroners' reports as well as traffic and vehicle registration data. More detail on traffic and vehicles can be obtained from the Department's publication “Transport Statistics Great Britain”. The Department for Transport is often prepared to sell unpublished data. In addition copies of the main tables in this report are available from the Department’s website or on request from the Department. Further information can be obtained from: Mr Linden Francis, Department for Transport Zone 2/18, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, Telephone:; 020-7944-3078 E-mail: [email protected] 1 Contents Page Articles : 1. General Review of progress towards the 2010 casualty reduction targets 6 2. Drinking and Driving 24 Notes 33 Notes to individual main tables 34 Definitions 38 List of charts and tables Charts 1a Indices of population, vehicle stock, motor traffic and casualties: 1949-2004 41 1b Indices of population, vehicle stock, motor traffic and casualties: 1994-2004 41 2a Indices of casualties by road user type: killed or seriously injured: 1994-2004 42 2b Indices of casualties by road user type: all severities: 1994-2004 42 3a Indices of casualties by age band: killed or seriously injured: 1994-2004 43 3b Indices of casualties by age band: all severities: 1994-2004 43 4a Indices of casualties by road user type: built-up roads: killed or seriously injured: 1994-2004 44 4b Indices of casualties by road user type: non built-up roads: killed or seriously injured: 1994-2004 44 5a Casualty Rates by hour of day and day of week: All severities: Children : 2004 45 5b Casualty Rates by hour of day and day of week: All severities: Adults : 2004 45 Tables Part 1 Trends: 1994-1998 average and 1997 to 2004 (unless stated otherwise) General 1 Vehicle population, traffic and road length: 1994 to 2004 48 2 Population, vehicle population, index of vehicle mileage, accidents and casualties: by road user type and severity: 1926 to 2004 49 2 Accidents 3 Accidents and accident rates: by road class and severity 50 Casualties 4a Male casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 51 4b Female casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 52 4c All casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 53 5a Male casualties: by road user type and severity 54 5b Female casualties: by road user type and severity 55 5c All casualties: by road user type and severity 56 6a Male casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 57 6b Female casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 58 6c All casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 59 7 Casualties: by time of accident and severity: 1994 to 2004 60 8 Casualty rates: by road user type and severity: 1994 to 2004 60 Vehicles and drivers involved 9 Vehicles involved and involvement rates: by vehicle type and severity of accident: 1994 to 2004 61 10 Breath tests and breath test failures: by drivers and riders involved in accidents: 1994 to 2004 62 Part II Detailed tables 2004 (unless stated otherwise) General 11 Deaths: by age, gender, deaths from all causes, all accidental deaths and all road deaths 62 12 Accidents, vehicles and casualties: casualties by severity: by built-up and non built-up roads 63 13 Accidents and casualties: by severity, major and minor roads and speed limit 64 Accidents 14a Accidents: by daylight and darkness, road surface condition, built-up and non built-up roads and severity 65 14b Casualties: by daylight and darkness, road surface condition, built-up and non built-up roads and severity 65 15a Accidents: by daylight and darkness, weather condition, built-up and non built-up roads and severity 66 15b Casualties: by daylight and darkness, weather condition, built-up and non built-up roads and severity 66 16 Accidents: by daylight and darkness, road surface condition, built-up