The Consequences Of Not Belting Up – Road Casualty Statistics Released 

The Department for Transport have released the latest statistics for road traffic injuries and fatalities in Great Britain. The figures cover 2021 and are based on collisions reported by the police that involved at least one motor vehicle, horse rider or pedal cyclist where at least one person was injured.

While it is anticipated that figures for fatalities will be largely accurate it is important to remember that there is no obligation for people to report all personal injury collisions to the police, so these figures are likely to be an underestimate.

Due to the impact of the pandemic and Covid lockdowns in both years care must be taken when comparing the figures for 2021 with previous years, for example the number of fatalities at 1,558 for 2021 was 7% above the number for 2020 but 7% below the number for 2019. Overall however the figures for 2021 appear to be in line with long term trends in casualty severity.

One factor that has been identified by a number of road safety bodies is a long term increase in the percentage of car occupants killed in road traffic collisions who were not wearing a seatbelt.

For all car occupants this has increased form 19% in 2013 to 30% of fatalities in 2021. Particularly high levels were noted in fatalities involving an occupant in the 17 to 29 age range (40%) and collisions in the evening and night, i.e. between 6pm and 8am (47%). It was also noted that the rate was higher for male occupants (34%) than female occupants (20%).

Data collection is only required for casualties in fatal accidents and it is important to note that in almost half of cases seatbelt wearing status is recorded as unknown.

The full statistics can be found on the Gov.Uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2021/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2021

Where you have employees who drive for work it is important that you have suitable procedures in place to manager their safety.

If you have any questions about road safety, contact our helpful team using the form below.