DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES ROAD CASUALTIES GREAT BRITAIN 2006 Published September 2007 London: The Stationery Office Department for Transport Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR Telephone 020 7944 8300 Internet service http://www.dft.gov.uk/ © Crown copyright 2007 Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown. This publication may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium for non-commercial research, private study or 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 web site. For any other use of this material please apply for a Click-Use Licence at www.opsi.gov.uk/click- use/index.htm, or by writing to OPSI at The Licensing Division, Office of Public Sector Information, St Clements House, 2–16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ, Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail to licensing@cabinet- office.x.gsi.gov.uk.. ISBN 978-0-11-552905-4 Printed in Great Britain 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 Customer Enquiry Centre at: Room DG/18, 1 Drummond Gate, London SW1V 2QQ. Ҟ 020-7533 5888, fax 020-7533 6261 or 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; Penny Allen Anil Bhagat Noman Burki Linden Francis Dawn Frost Pat Kilbey Barbara Noble David Robinson Rashmeeta Singh David Wilson DfT is often prepared to sell unpublished data. Further information and queries concerning this publication should be directed to: SR5, 3/19, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. Tel. +44 (0) 20-7944 3078, Fax +44 (0)20-7944 2165, E-mail: [email protected] Preface This is the 2006 edition of Road Casualties Great Britain 2006: Annual Report (RCGB) 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. Some 50 data items are collected for each accident, including the time and location of the accident, the types of vehicle involved, what they were doing at the time of the accident, as well as some information on the drivers and casualties involved. 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 2006, the vehicle population stood at 33 million and there were 189,000 injury accidents. Thus, while the vehicle stock has increased sevenfold, the number of injury accidents has increased by about a fifth. Between 1951 and 2006, 309,144 people were killed and 17.6 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 therefore 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 the severity of injury because of the difficulty in distinguishing severity at the scene of the accident. The Department is undertaking further research to investigate whether levels of reporting have changed. Further information on levels of reporting can be found on the Department’s website at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accidents 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 annual publication Transport Statistics Great Britain. Copies of the full RCGB report (in PDF format) and all tables (in Excel format) are available from the Department’s website: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accidents/casualtiesgbar Further information can be obtained from: Mr Anil Bhagat, Department for Transport Zone 3/19, Great Minster House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR Telephone: 020-7944-6595 E-mail: [email protected] 1 Contents Page Articles 1. Review of progress towards the 2010 casualty reduction targets 6 2. A valuation of accident, casualty costs and insurance claims data 22 3. Drinking and driving 26 4. Contributory factors to road accidents 35 5. Hit and run accidents 51 6. The use of hospital data on road accidents 60 Notes 73 Notes to individual main tables 75 Definitions, symbols and conventions 79 List of charts and tables Charts 1a Indices of population, vehicle stock, motor traffic and casualties: 1949-2006 84 1b Indices of population, vehicle stock, motor traffic and casualties: 1996-2006 84 2a Indices of casualties by road user type: Killed or seriously injured: 1996-2006 85 2b Indices of casualties by road user type: All severities: 1996-2006 85 3a Indices of casualties by age band: Killed or seriously injured: 1996-2006 86 3b Indices of casualties by age band: All severities: 1996-2006 86 4a Indices of casualties by road user type: Built-up roads: Killed or seriously injured: 1996-2006 87 4b Indices of casualties by road user type: Non built-up roads: Killed or seriously injured: 1996-2006 87 5a Casualty rates by hour of day and day of week: All severities: Children (0-15 years): 2006 88 5b Casualty rates by hour of day and day of week: All severities: Adults (16 years and over): 2006 88 Tables Part I Trends: 1994-1998 average and 1999 to 2006 (unless stated) General 1a Vehicle population, traffic and road length: 1996 - 2006 90 1b Road traffic by vehicle type and road class: 2005 - 2006 and 1994-98 average 91 2 Population, vehicle population, index of vehicle mileage, accidents and casualties: by road user type and severity: 1930 - 2006 92 2 Accidents 3 Accidents and accident rates: by road class and severity 93 4 Accidents: by road class, speed limit and severity 94 Casualties 5a Male casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 95 5b Female casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 96 5c All casualties: by built-up and non built-up roads, road class and severity 97 6a Male casualties: by road user type and severity 98 6b Female casualties: by road user type and severity 99 6c All casualties: by road user type and severity 100 7a Male casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 101 7b Female casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 102 7c All casualties: killed or seriously injured: by road user type and age 103 8 Casualties: by time of accident and severity: 1996 - 2006 104 9 Casualty rates: by road user type and severity: 1996 - 2006 104 Vehicles and drivers involved 10 Vehicles involved and involvement rates: by vehicle type and severity of accident: 1996 - 2006 105 11 Breath tests and breath test failures: by drivers and riders involved in accidents: 1996 - 2006 106 Part II Detailed tables 2006 (unless stated) General 12 Accidents, vehicles and casualties: casualties by severity: by road class, built-up and non built-up roads 107 13 Accidents and casualties: by severity, road type and speed limit 108 Accidents 14 Accidents: by severity, number of casualties involved, built-up and non built-up roads and road class 109 15a Accidents: by daylight and darkness, road surface condition,