DfT Data Shows Police Recorded Speed in 52 Percent of 2025 Fatal Crashes

• There were 1,538 reported road deaths in Great Britain in 2025, down 4% from 1,602 in 2024, but killed or seriously injured casualties rose 4% to 29,918.
• Police recorded at least one speed related factor in 52% of fatal collisions, and rural roads accounted for 60% of deaths while carrying 45% of traffic.
• Around a quarter of car occupants killed with a known seatbelt status were not wearing one, and 14% of 2024 road deaths involved a driver or rider over the drink drive limit.

Road Deaths Fell to 1,538 in 2025 While Serious Injuries Rose 4 Percent

The Department for Transport (DfT) has published its final 2025 road casualty statistics for Great Britain, and the numbers give a mixed result. Reported road deaths fell to 1,538, the lowest figure outside the pandemic years. The number of people killed or seriously injured went the other way, rising to 29,918.

The release, published on 30 July 2026, is built from STATS19 data that police forces send to the DfT after every injury collision. It is the data the government uses to monitor the targets in its road safety strategy. Every figure below comes from the DfT release unless stated otherwise.

The DfT’s own summary is that fatalities continued to fall, while serious injuries edged up and casualties of all severities were broadly unchanged. Great Britain remains one of the safest countries in the world for road deaths, ranking fourth lowest among countries with data for 2025. The detail underneath that headline shows where the remaining risk sits.

What the 2025 Casualty Figures Show

In 2025 there were 1,538 reported road fatalities, 29,918 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties and 127,883 casualties of all severities. Fatalities fell 4% from 1,602 in 2024. KSI casualties rose 4% from 28,876 in 2024. Casualties of all severities were close to flat, at 127,883 against 128,272.

The DfT measures progress against a baseline average for 2022 to 2024. Against that baseline, the 29,918 KSI casualties recorded in 2025 are 3% higher than the 28,925 average. Child KSI casualties under 16 numbered 2,432 in 2025, also 3% above the baseline average of 2,353. Both sit above the baseline rather than below it.

Traffic volumes help explain why the long term trend looks better than the latest year. In 2025 there were 4 fatalities, 86 KSI casualties and 369 casualties of all severities per billion vehicle miles travelled. Fatalities have more than halved from 2004 levels and KSI casualties have fallen by around a third, though the DfT notes that most of the KSI reduction happened before 2010 and the figure has been broadly stable for a decade.

Where Deaths Happen: Rural Roads, Single Carriageways and 60mph Limits

Rural roads accounted for 60% of fatalities in 2025 but only 45% of traffic. Motorways did the opposite: they carried 21% of traffic and recorded only 6% of fatalities. A roads made up the largest share of deaths by road class, at 52%, and single carriageways accounted for 77% of fatalities and 78% of KSI casualties.

Speed limits tell a similar story. Excluding motorways, most casualties happened on 30mph roads, but the largest number of fatalities happened on 60mph roads. Around half of all casualties occurred at or within 20 metres of a junction. For drivers, the practical reading is that the roads where most people are hurt are urban streets and junctions, while the roads where most people die are fast rural single carriageways. Our earlier report on rising pothole reports and the repair bills that follow covers the separate cost of the same road network: every UK driver risks a £590 repair bill as pothole reports triple.

Car occupants made up 53% of casualties, the largest single group. Fatalities fell for car occupants in 2025 but rose for motorcyclists for the second year running. Motorcyclists accounted for 25% of road deaths while making up 1% of road traffic, and they had the highest casualty rate of any road user group per billion miles travelled.

What the Police Recorded as Causes

The DfT reports on what it calls the fatal four: speed, alcohol and drugs, seatbelt non wearing and mobile device use. At least one of those factors was assigned to nearly two thirds of fatal collisions in 2025. Speed related factors were recorded more often in fatal collisions than in less severe ones, and at least one was assigned to 52% of fatal collisions, against 34% of all collisions.

On drink and drugs, the latest drink drive statistics cover 2024 and show that 14% of all road fatalities involved at least one driver or rider over the legal limit. For 2025, 13% of fatal collisions had an affected by alcohol factor assigned and 12% had an affected by drugs factor. Around a quarter of car occupants killed with a known seatbelt status were recorded as not wearing a seatbelt.

The wider road safety factors show how collisions build up. Behaviour or inexperience factors were the most commonly recorded, assigned to 74% of collisions with at least one factor. Distraction or impairment factors were assigned to 44% of fatal collisions, against 29% of all collisions. Ineffective observation by a driver, rider or pedestrian was the most common single factor, assigned to 50% of fatal or serious collisions, more than twice the proportion of the next most common factor.

The DfT stresses that most collisions with factors recorded had more than one, reflecting a combination of behaviours, conditions and circumstances. It also notes that factors are assigned by police officers at or soon after the scene, so they are an indicator rather than a verdict on cause.

Who Is Most Affected and What It Means for Drivers

Men accounted for 77% of fatalities, 68% of KSI casualties and 61% of casualties overall. People aged 17 to 49 made up over half of all KSI casualties, though their share has fallen over time as casualty numbers dropped faster among younger groups. The age profile of casualties has shifted older from 2004, and people aged 70 and over had the highest proportion of casualties classed as killed or seriously injured, meaning an older person hurt in a collision is more likely to be badly hurt.

Work driving carries a share of the risk. The DfT estimates that at least a quarter of collisions in 2025 involved someone driving or riding for work. Deprivation also shows up in the data: a higher proportion of KSI casualties lived in the most deprived 10% of areas than in the least deprived 10%, a gap of six percentage points.

The international comparison is less flattering than the ranking suggests. The UK recorded 23.3 road fatalities per million population in 2025, among the lowest in the world, but the DfT says recent progress in cutting road deaths has been slower than in several comparable countries. KSI rates have fallen across all regions of Great Britain from 2004 levels, though the pace has slowed and rates have been broadly stable from the mid 2010s in many areas.

The DfT’s chapter on vehicles adds another layer for anyone who shares the road with larger vehicles. Cars were involved in 69% of all collisions and 60% of vehicles in fatal collisions, which reflects their share of road traffic. Motorcycles had the highest collision involvement rates once distance travelled is taken into account, and per billion vehicle miles they were substantially more likely than any other vehicle type to be involved in fatal, serious and overall injury collisions.

The risk to other people varies by vehicle type. Most people killed in collisions involving motorcycles or pedal cycles were the rider or cyclist, while the majority of fatalities in collisions involving heavy goods vehicles were other road users. Per vehicle billion miles, the number of other road users killed was highest for buses and coaches, followed by heavy goods vehicles, though cars were involved in the largest number of fatalities affecting other road users reflecting their prevalence in traffic.

For individual drivers, the figures point to a handful of habits that account for a large share of the worst outcomes. Speed on rural single carriageways and 60mph roads is where deaths concentrate. Observation at junctions is the most common factor in fatal or serious collisions. Seatbelts remain unworn in around a quarter of car occupant deaths where the status is known. None of these findings creates a new legal obligation, and the release does not announce a policy change. It is the evidence base for monitoring the road safety strategy targets, and the 2025 figures for serious injuries sit above the baseline it uses.

Sources:

• RRCGB 2025: Introduction and main findings (DfT)
• Reported road casualties Great Britain, final results: 2025 (DfT)