Organisation: Department for Transport (DfT)
Date of Publication: September 2022
Uploaded to Knowledge Centre: 5 October 2022
This statistical release provides the number of personal injury road traffic casualties in Great Britain that were reported by the police to the Department for Transport in 2021 using the STATS19 reporting system.
This report focuses on severity, road user group, age and sex of these casualties, compared with previous years and over the last decade (since 2011).
Recent trends in reported road casualties have been impacted by the national restrictions implemented from March 2020 onwards following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including periods of lockdown during 2021.
In 2021, road casualties showed signs of a return to pre-pandemic trends, increasing compared to 2020 when casualty numbers were low, largely as a result of periods of lockdown resulting in a reduction in road traffic.
As the first half of 2021 also had a lockdown, the overall figures for 2021 remain lower than pre-pandemic levels. Over the second half of the year, both casualties and traffic returned to levels similar to those in 2019. Monthly changes in casualties during 2021 generally showed a similar trend to changes in motor vehicle traffic levels.
The final statistics show:
- an estimated 1,558 reported road deaths in 2021, a decrease of 11% from pre-pandemic levels (2019)
- a rate of 5.2 fatalities per billion vehicle miles in 2021, a higher rate compared with 2019 and a lower rate compared with 2020
- an estimated 27,450 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties in 2021, a decrease of 11% compared to 2019, with a casualty rate of 91 KSIs per billion vehicle miles, a similar rate compared with 2019
- an estimated 128,209 casualties of all severities in 2021, a decrease of 16% compared to 2019, with 425 casualties per billion vehicle miles, a lower rate compared with 2019
Considering the different road user types and demographics, the statistics show:
- there was an increase in casualties for all main road user types in 2021 compared with 2020
- pedal cyclists showed a reduction in fatalities (21%) following a large increase associated with the pandemic – the opposite pattern to other road user types
- there are age and sex differences in casualty trends, with female fatalities aged 70 and over showing a particularly large reduction compared with prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (43% reduction in 2021 compared with 2019)
Access the full statistical release via the gov.uk website: