In 2005, a new question on the factors that contributed to injury accidents was introduced in the UK national road accident reporting system (STATS19). The first part of this article explains the scope of the system and the limitations of its use. The main factors contributing to injury accidents have been identified as failed to look properly (32% of all accidents), exceeding the speed limit or going too fast for conditions (15% of accidents). Eight times more male than female drivers or riders involved in roadaccidents were reported as exceeding the speed limit. In the second part of the article, statistics are given on accidents involving speed as a contributory factor: accidents classed by severity; accidents by road class; contributory factors allocated to pedestrians; and contributory factors by vehicle type.
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