Serious Injury or Death due to Dangerous Roads
New research undertaken by price comparison and service-switching website Uswitch has revealed that Hampshire’s road network is the third most dangerous in the UK when in comes to the risk of being seriously injured or killed.
Using data gathered from official Department of Transport records, the Uswitch analysis showed that in the four years between 2015 and 2019, Kent was the County with the most dangerous roads, with a total of 3,844 serious injuries or fatalities – the highest proportion of the UK’s 131,369 total. Essex was revealed has having the second most dangerous roads with 3,770 casualties, with Hampshire in third place with 3,561.
Casualties by Type of Road User
In the report, the five-year Department of Transport data for the whole of the UK was also broken down into different categories, with some interesting results:
- Far more men (69%) are involved in accidents compared to women (31%)
- Just over half of all road casualties occurred in accidents at speeds of less than 30mph
- Car drivers and passengers formed the largest group of casualties (48,964 in total), with pedestrians in second place (29,516 in total), motorcyclists third (28,670 in total ) and cyclists fourth (18,230 in total)
- T-Junctions were the most dangerous junction type, with a total of 37,143 casualties
Top 10 Most Dangerous UK Roads
Analysis of the five year data has also revealed a ‘Top 10’ list of the most dangerous roads, by County, with 4 of the top 5 being in the South and East of England. These are:
- Kent (3,844 casualties)
- Essex (3,770)
- Hampshire (3,561)
- Surrey (3,445)
- Lancashire (3,375)
- West Sussex (2,485)
- Lincolnshire (2,371)
- Birmingham (2,300)
- Norfolk (2,194)
- Hertfordshire (2,138)
Commenting on the findings of the report, a spokesperson for Kent County Council, said:
“We work hard to ensure our roads are as safe as possible and making comparisons between, for instance the City of London with a square mile of road to Kent, with 1,400 square miles of road, is not a fair comparison…That said, we absolutely appreciate too many people are involved in crashes on Kent's roads and one crash is too many. We study collision data and make changes to roads where it is found engineering can make a difference to the safety of road users…We also work with our colleagues in the emergency services to reduce illegal driving behaviour such as speeding, drink driving, mobile phone use, and not wearing seatbelts. There is only so much, however, Kent County Council can do.
The safety of our roads is the responsibility of all road users - research shows that the vast majority of crashes are caused by poor driving or other human factors…We therefore have a wide-reaching education and promotional plan to help everyone – from young pedestrians to older drivers - make better decisions on our roads…We can all help reduce the number of crashes by being more patient, being more alert to other road users and sharing our roads safely…It is vital that we all recognise the way we drive, ride or walk plays a big part in avoiding becoming a casualty on our roads.”
Road Accident Injury Claims Advice from Bakers Solicitors
At Bakers, we pride ourselves on our experience in representing claimants who have been injured following a road traffic accident that was not their fault, and helping them to receive compensation that they are properly entitled to. Our professional, friendly personal injury team will give you an honest, free and ‘plain English’ appraisal of your claim and we love delighting our clients when they receive the injury compensation they deserve.
If you would like us to handle your personal injury compensation claim, you can contact us online or by phone on 01252 74460.