Final data for 2021 confirms that road casualties returned to pre-pandemic levels as traffic returned following lockdowns in 2020.
According to Reported road casualties Great Britain, annual report: 2021, published by the Department for Transport, there were an estimated 1,558 reported road deaths in 2021, a decrease of 11% from 2019 but up around 7% on 1,460 fatalities in 2020.
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Crawley West Sussex, July 2022
The RAC pointed out that this represented a rate of 5.2 fatalities per billion vehicle miles (bvm), a higher rate compared with 2019, albeit a lower rate than 2020.
There were an estimated 27,450 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties in 2021, down 11% on 2019, but with a similar casualty rate of 91 KSIs per bvm.
Casualties of all severities numbered 128,209 in 2021, a decrease of 16% compared to 2019, with 425 casualties per billion vehicle miles, a lower rate than 2019.
The RAC noted that as the first half of 2021 also had a lockdown, overall figures for 2021 were lower than pre-pandemic levels but the second half of the year saw both casualties and traffic returning to levels similar to those in 2019.
Road safety spokesperson Simon Williams said: ‘While the overall number of road deaths is down on pre-pandemic levels, the fatality rate per billion miles driven has increased, suggesting little progress is being made in making our roads safer.’
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: ‘We were hopeful that the lockdowns and restricted travel throughout the pandemic would reset road deaths, but sadly they have increased from 2020 and a new trend has become more established.’
Crashes involving e-scooters rose by 193% in 2021 compared to 2020. There were 1,434 casualties involving e-scooters, with 10 people killed, 421 seriously injured and 1,003 slightly injured.
Mr Cousens said: ‘The wider introduction of micromobility into the national transport picture must look at how we can adopt new and emerging personal mobility tech without compromising the safety of all road users, including pedestrians.’
IAM RoadSmart pointed out that the 2021 e-scooter statistics were ‘in stark contrast’ to 2020, which saw 484 casualties involving e-scooters, including one death, 128 serious injuries and 355 slight injuries.
Director of Policy and Research Neil Greig said: ‘The e-scooter carnage must stop. A tenfold increase in deaths related to e-scooters in just one year is utterly unacceptable and the continued delay in regulating these machines is costing lives and causing misery on our city roads every day.
‘IAM RoadSmart calls on the new Transport Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, to make road safety the number one deliverable for her department in the coming months by introducing the long-awaited Transport Bill to regulate e-scooters for the first time.’
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