Police recorded road accidents: 2020

Police recorded road accident and casualty numbers throughout most of 2020 were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which saw restrictions on how, where and why people could travel within Wales.

Main points

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• Road accidents and casualties decreased by 33.9% and 36.4% respectively in 2020 compared with 2019, the largest annual decreases since records began in 1979.
• The number of accidents and casualties were at their lowest during the initial ‘stay at home’ period throughout spring 2020, and during the period between October and December 2020.
• During 2020, 2,864 road accidents involving personal injury were recorded by the police in Wales, 33.9% lower than in 2019. Of these accidents: 71 were classed as fatal, 657 were classed as serious and 2,136 were classed as slight.

During 2020, police recorded road accidents resulted in 3,692 casualties; of these:

• 72 were fatal, 23 fewer (24.2%) than in 2019
• 747 people were seriously injured, 351 fewer (32.0%) than in 2019
• 2,873 casualties were slightly injured, down by 1,742 (37.7%) compared to 2019
• motorised traffic in Wales had decreased by 23.4% compared with 2019, the largest decrease out of the UK countries