The statistics refer to personal injury accidents on public roads (including footways) which became known to the police. Figures for deaths refer to persons who sustained injuries which caused death less than 30 days after the accident. This is the usual international definition and differs from that used in other contexts by the Registrars General, whose published statistics cover all deaths on public roads, generally by date of registration. Research conducted in the 1990s has shown that many non-fatal injury accidents are not reported to the police. In addition some casualties reported to the police are not recorded and the severity of injury tends to be underestimated. The combined effect of under-reporting, under-recording and misclassification suggests that there may be 2.76 times as many seriously injured casualties than are recorded in the national casualty figures and 1.70 slight casualties, according to TRL Report 173 ` Comparison of hospital and police casualty data : a national study' by H F Simpson. The Department is undertaking further research to investigate whether the level of under-reporting has changed. In 2003: • There were 290,607 reported casualties on roads in Great Britain in 2003, 4 per cent less than in 2002. 3,508 people were killed, 2 per cent more than in 2002. 33,707 were seriously injured (down 6 per cent on 2002) and 253,392 were slightly injured. Road traffic levels were estimated to be 1 per cent higher than in 2002 so the casualty rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres was 5 per cent lower. • There were 214,030 road accidents involving personal injury in 2003, 3 per cent less than in 2002. Of these, 32,160 involved death or serious injury. • Child casualties fell by 8 per cent. There were 171 child fatalities, 4 per cent less than in 2002. The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2003 was 4,100 down 11 per cent on 2002. Of those, 2,381 were pedestrians, 16 per cent down on 2002. • Car user casualties decreased by 5 per cent on the 2002 level to 188,342 although fatalities were 1 per cent higher. • Pedestrian casualties were 36,405 in 2003, 6 per cent less than 2002. Pedestrian deaths were at about the same level as 2002 at 774 but serious injuries fell by 9 per cent to 7,159. • Pedal cyclist casualties were at about the same level as in 2002 dropping by only 74 to 17,033 in 2003. There were 2,297 seriously injured casualties, 1 per cent less than in 2002. The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 12 per cent from 130 to 114. Cycle traffic decreased by an estimated 5 per cent. • Two wheeled motor vehicles user casualties remained at about the 2002 level at 28,411 in 2003. The number killed rose 14 per cent to 693 and the number of seriously injured rose 1 per cent to 6,959. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting