UK roads: biggest killers
Drivers who don’t look properly cause the most fatal accidents
MOTORISTS who failed to ‘look properly’ were the biggest cause of fatal accidents last year, causing 383 such collisions. A total of 32,124 accidents were caused by a lack of driver observation in 2018, out of a total of 84,968.
The data comes from the Department for Transport (DfT), which has compiled a statistical breakdown of the biggest contributory factors to fatal accidents, and those in which at least one person was injured, recorded by police between the years of 2013 and 2018.
Observation proved to be critical to safety – not only were there 383 fatal accidents involving a driver failing to look properly, but a further 117 involved a pedestrian not looking properly, either. In fact, unobservant pedestrians contributed to 7,106 accidents of all severities last year.
Excess speed was another major cause of accidents on Britain’s roads in 2018, with 4,652 collisions involving drivers breaking the speed limit; 177 of these incidents claimed someone’s life.
Even more accidents, though – 4,930 to be precise – occurred as a result of drivers simply travelling too fast for the conditions, such as in heavy rain, fog or snow. Of these, 137 were fatal.
Aggressive driving was a factor in 3,261 accidents in 2018, of which 114 incidents involved one or more deaths. A similar number of crashes – 3,213 – involved a driver or rider who was either learning or who was simply inexperienced, and
33 of these proved fatal.
All of these figures have remained fairly stable over the course of the past five years, with the exception of drug-driving, which has doubled in that time. While there were 594 accidents in 2013 where one or more of the drivers involved was under the influence of drugs, this had more than doubled by 2018, to 1,321.
Unfortunately, another area where the statistics show a rise in fatal accidents is on the motorway over the past two years (Issue 1,595). This rise has prompted leading motoring groups to claim that the government isn’t doing enough to prevent the rise of such incidents.
The RAC accused the DfT of showing “complacency” over road safety, with head of policy Nicholas Lyes expressing his disappointment that there had been “no meaningful reduction in fatalities at a national level for seven years”.
Lyes said: “Of particular concern are the rises in fatalities among older age groups and a spike in fatalities on motorways – some worrying trends are emerging here that require immediate investigation, to understand the reasons for these increases and what can be done quickly to reduce them.
“In addition, the Government’s data suggests an increase in motorway collisions where at least one driver has been under the influence of illegal drugs,” he added.
“These figures clearly show that there is no room for complacency.”
“Figures have kept stable, apart from drug-driving, which has doubled”