The number people killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads has broadly returned to pre-pandemic levels, with 2022 figures just 3% down on 2019 levels.
According to Reported road casualties Great Britain, provisional results: 2022, published by the Department for Transport, there were an estimated 1,695 fatalities last year, a decline of 3% compared to 2019.
Similarly, the 29,795 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties also represented a decline of 3% compared to 2019. Casualties of all severities were 136,002, down 11% compared to 2019.
During 2022, 781 car occupants were killed, representing 46% of fatalities, while 376 (22%) of the people who lost their lives were pedestrians, 354 (21%) were motorcyclists and 85 (5%) were pedal cyclists.
Of these four types of road user, the biggest percentage change compared to 2019 was for pedestrians, which showed a decline of 20%, while the number of pedal cyclists fell by 15%.
However, the number of motorcyclists and car occupants killed rose compared to 2019, by 5% and 6% respectively.
AA president Edmund King said: ‘Our target should be for Vision Zero with no road deaths but we are still averaging just under five deaths every day on the roads. This is not acceptable. There needs to be more of a concerted effort and priority to aim for five-star drivers, on five-star roads in five-star cars. These disappointing and tragic figures show there is still some way to go to stop this carnage.
‘Action is needed now in order to make our roads safer for everyone, regardless of how they travel. We need more engineering, more education and more enforcement to get road casualty figures falling rather than rising.’
He added: ‘Road safety experts and campaigners will also be interested at the number of vehicle occupant deaths where a seatbelt was not being worn. In previous years this figure has grown significantly.’
