Road safety statistics

Plymouth City Council statistics are based on collisions reported to the police (STATS19 system). These provide detailed statistics about the circumstances of personal injury road collisions, including the types of vehicles involved and the consequent casualties. Our collision and casualty data has to go through an extensive validation process and is based only on fatal, serious and slight injury related collisions.

We, along with our partners, have been very successful in reducing casualties on the city's roads. The number of killed and seriously injured has reduced by 50 per cent since 1998 although recent trends have shown our road safety collision statistics have increased by 20 per cent from last year (2010).

Data categories

The data may refer to either the number of collisions or the number of casualties in the collisions; one collision may result in several casualties. Therefore the number of casualties in any year is always greater than the number of collisions.

The casualties/injuries are categorised by severity:

• Fatal - injury resulting in the death of a casualty within 30 days of the collision
• Serious - injury including fracture, internal injury, concussion, severe shock, severe cuts, detention in hospital
• Slight - injury including sprains, whiplash, bruises, slight cuts

Collisions are categorised by the most severe casualty category. So if, for example, a collision results in three casualties - one fatal, one serious and one slight - the collision is categorised as a fatal collision.

In 2011 there were four deaths and 68 serious injuries in Plymouth.

An overview of casualty statistics since 1994

Year	Fatal	Total KSI*	Slight
1994 to 1998 average	8	139	1098
1999	9	95	1050
2000	6	99	1091
2001	6	100	1045
2002	7	106	997
2003	6	87	1062
2004	2	79	1036
2005	3	54	1021
2006	5	59	1037
2007	8	62	1057
2008	4	58	828
2009	4	40	840
2010	4	60	859
2011	5	74	841

* Killed and seriously injured. The total KSI figures include the figures in the 'fatal' column.

Most vulnerable road user groups

It is important to target resources at those road users who are considered most vulnerable; that means people who are statistically most likely to be involved in a collision and/or most likely to sustain serious or fatal injuries.

2011 KSI statistics - all road users

2011 Collision data by user group

Pedestrians

Pedal Cyclists

Motorcyclists/power two wheels

Car users

Other vehicle users

In 2011 the government published a new Strategic Framework for Road Safety and asked local authorities to assess and set their own road safety priorities.

We assess our priorities by analysing our detailed collision data. We also investigate road safety concerns as identified through local neighbourhood meetings and local community forums.

With the help of this sort of information, local authorities can develop a much better understanding of the risks experienced by their residents and road users, helping them to address the inequalities that many people are experiencing.

We aim to reduce the number of casualties occurring on the road through a targeted approach including:

• Education, training and publicity
• Engineering
• Encouragement
• 20 mph zones
• Speedwatch initiatives