The number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents divided by the population of the area in thousands multiplied by 100. This indicator contains data from all ‘types’ of road user, including pedestrians, pedal cyclists, motorcyclists, car users, and other vehicle users.
Motor vehicle traffic accidents are a major cause of preventable deaths and morbidity, particularly in younger age groups. For children and for men aged 20-64 years, mortality rates for motor vehicle traffic accidents are higher in lower socioeconomic groups. For instance, there would be 600 fewer deaths in men aged 20-64 years from motor vehicle traffic accidents each year if all men had the same death rates as those in social classes I and II combined. There is evidence that some groups, like children, old people and potential cyclists, avoid roads because they are dangerous, which can reduce casualties but lower the quality of life. Ideally, casualty data need to be combined with other information. For example, a rise in journeys on foot and bicycle combined with a fall in accidents would indicate real progress. One of the Department for Transport’s PSA targets is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in Great Britain in road accidents by 40 % by 2010 and the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50 % by 2010, compared with the averages for 1994-1998.
Legacy unique identifier: P01050