Reported Road Casualties Great Britain

Since 1992, the ten-year drop in killed or seriously injured casualty numbers reported to the police, compared with the previous five-year average, has been about 40%.

[3] In 1999, when Great Britain had the safest roads in Europe apart from Sweden, the government set a new national casualty reduction target, to be met by the year 2010.

[26] The accuracy of the police STATS19 statistics, and thus much of the data published in the RCGB, and therefore its suitability for measuring trends in road casualties was examined in two studies in 2006 and has subsequently been commented on by the Department for Transport who concluded that the figures for deaths were accurate, however the actual total injuries is likely considerably higher than the reported figure, possibly three times higher.

[27] Also in 2006 a report prepared for the DfT by H. Ward et al. noted that although the figures for fatalities were normally accurate, with no significant under-reporting there was more uncertainty in the statistics relating to injury.

The report also noted that there were changes to the method used to estimate vehicle mileages in 1995 which would affect direct comparisons of figures spanning this year.

Based on additional sources including hospital records, surveys and compensation claims they estimate that the total number of road casualties in Great Britain each year is nearer to 800,000 (although this figure itself may be influenced by the growth in the so-called 'compensation culture'[according to whom?]).

[29] Another independent report challenged the government's claim that falling casualty rates meant that roads were becoming "much safer".