Police recorded road collisions: 2022 (revised)

• In 2022 police forces in Wales recorded a total of 3,315(r) road collisions, broadly similar to the number seen in 2021, and a decrease of 23.4%(r) compared to 2019.
• These road collisions in 2022 resulted in 4,447(r) personal injuries. Of these, 95(r) people were killed, 921 people were seriously injured and 3,431(r) ‘slight’ injuries were recorded.
• During 2022, over half of all road collisions (51%) occurred on 30mph roads with the next highest proportion (25%) occurring on 60mph roads. Road sections with a 20mph speed limit accounted for 6% of all collisions.

Note: the terminology within this release has changed from road accidents to road collisions.

Figure 1: Recorded personal injury road collisions, 1993 to 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 1: The line chart shows a time series of police reported road collisions for the whole of Wales from 1993 to 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

• Looking at the long-term trend, there has been an overall fall in personal injury road collisions recorded by police forces in Wales.
• In recent years, the number of collisions resulting in fatalities or serious injury has remained relatively stable. The overall decrease in the number of collisions is mainly driven by a continued fall in ‘slight’ injury collisions.

The data presented in this report reflect the personal injury road collisions recorded by police forces in Wales. While these data are the most detailed and reliable source of information on road collisions and casualties, they do not provide a complete record of all such incidents. For example, hospital, survey and compensation claims data indicate that many non-fatal collisions are not reported to or recorded by the police.

Overall, the available sources show that collisions reported to, and recorded by, police forces represent only a subset of all personal injury road collisions, but that coverage of serious injuries and fatalities is good (see quality info for further information).

Police recorded road collision and casualty numbers throughout most of 2020 and 2021 were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which saw restrictions on how, where and why people could travel within Wales. Traffic volume decreased considerably during 2020 in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (a decrease of 23.4% compared to 2019).

Individual collisions can result in multiple casualties with different level of injury severity. During 2022, 3,315(r) road collisions involving personal injury were recorded by police forces in Wales, broadly similar to 2021 and 23.4% (r) fewer than in 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Of these collisions:

• 89(r) were classed as fatal, 7(r) more (8.5% (r)) than in 2021.
• 792 were classed as serious, 9 more (1.1%) than in 2021 and
• 2,434(r) were classed as slight, 11(r) more (0.5% (r)) than in 2021.
• Compared to 2019 (the last full year prior to pandemic), fatal collisions decreased by 5.3% (r), serious collisions decreased by 17.7% and slight collisions decreased by 25.6%(r).

Collision severity is determined by the most seriously injured casualty in the collision. For example, if there are five casualties and one fatality, the collision will be classed as fatal.

Figure 2 illustrates the contrast between the downward trend in collisions on Welsh roads since 1993 and the gradual increase in the volume of road traffic. The introduction of compulsory wearing of seat belts in the 1980s and improvements to vehicle technology are likely to have contributed to the reduction in the number of collisions with personal injury over the long term.

Note: Traffic volume data shown in the chart is up to year 2021 only.

Figure 2: Personal injury collisions and traffic volume on Welsh roads, 1993 to 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 2: The line chart illustrates the contrast between the downward trend in collisions on Welsh roads since 1993 and the gradual increase in the volume of road traffic.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

[Note 1] Traffic volume data is up to 2021 only.

The monthly trend in 2022 was broadly similar to 2021, with some exceptions at the start of 2021 when COVID-19 travel restrictions were in place. The monthly figures in 2022 remain below pre-pandemic figures in 2019. (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Collisions in Wales by month, 2021 and 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 3: The bar chart shows monthly trends of road collisions in Wales comparing 2021 and 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

There has been a long-term downward trend in the number of KSI collisions on Welsh roads (figure 4). In 2022 there were 881(r) KSI collisions, an increase of 16(r) (1.8% (r)) compared to 2021 but 16.7% (r) lower compared to 2019. Our interactive road collisions dashboard, published alongside this bulletin, provides breakdowns of the data by features such as location and demographic characteristics in more detail.

There was a total of 89(r) reported fatal collisions in Wales in 2022, an increase of 7(r) on the previous year (figure 4). Looking at the historical trend, the number of recorded fatal collisions has been broadly stable since 2010 after falling significantly over previous decades. Wales recorded the lowest number of fatal collisions in 2020 (73) which is likely due to coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions that saw reduced traffic levels on roads. The average number of fatal collisions for the last three years (2020 to 2022) was 81, a 56.0% (r) decrease compared to 1993-1995.

Care should be taken when interpreting changes in small numbers, such as fatal collisions per year. For detailed breakdowns or analysis of change over time it may be more appropriate to look at trends in total KSI collisions.

Figure 4: Number of KSI collisions on Welsh roads 1993 to 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 4: The line chart shows the time series of KSI collisions that have taken place on Welsh roads from 1993 to 2022. In 2022, there were 792 serious collisions, an increase of 9 on the previous year.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

In 2022, there were 792 serious collisions, broadly similar to the previous year. Over time, the number of serious collisions has followed a similar trend to that of fatal collisions. The average number of serious collisions for the last three years (2020 to 2022) was 744, a 52.0% decrease compared to 1993 to 1995.

In 2022, 11 of the 22 local authorities in Wales reported increases in police recorded road collisions with the remaining seeing a reduction when compared to 2021 (Figure 5). Further details can be found in our StatsWales tables.

Figure 5: Road collisions by local authorities 2021 to 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 5: The bar chart shows road collisions by local authority in Wales.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government 

In 2022, police officers attended 98.9% of fatal collisions, 92.0% of serious collisions and 85.9% of slight collisions reported to the police.

Dyfed-Powys Police recorded the most collisions in 2022, a total of 981 (an increase of 2.4% on the previous year), followed by South Wales Police who recorded 944(r) road collisions over the same time period (a decrease of 0.9% (r) on the previous year). North Wales Police recorded 802 collisions in 2022 (an increase of 3.0% on the previous year) and Gwent Police Force recorded the lowest number of road collisions at 588 (a decrease of 1.5% on the previous year).

Figure 6: Road collisions by police force area 2021 to 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 6: The bar chart shows a comparison of total collisions that have taken place on Welsh roads by Police Force area between 2020 and 2021.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

The proportion of road collisions by type of vehicle are shown in figure 7. In 2022, 73.2% (4,249(r)) of all road collisions were accounted for by ‘cars, taxis and minibuses’ followed by ‘other vehicles’ accounting for 12.6%. Pedal cycles accounted for the lowest proportion of road collisions at 5.5%.

Road collisions since 1996 have shown a decreasing trend in the number of road collisions for all vehicle types.

By vehicle type, the number of ‘cars, taxis and minibuses’ involved in a road collision increased by 1%, motorcycles decreased by 2.3% and ‘other’ vehicles decreased by 1.8% (r). Pedal cycles involved in a road collision recorded a 13.7% decrease compared to 2021.

Figure 7: Road traffic collisions by type of vehicle, 2022 [Note 1]

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Description of Figure 7: The pie chart shows proportion of road collisions by type of vehicle. 73% of all road collisions in 2022 were accounted for by ‘cars, taxi and minibus’ (4,246) followed by ‘other vehicles’.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

[Note 1] Other: Includes buses, coaches, goods vehicles, invalid vehicles, motor caravans, other and unknown vehicles.

When considering the frequency of collisions by road speed, it’s important to consider both the total length of roads across Wales by each speed limit, as well as the volume of traffic travelling on these roads. To provide some of this context we plan to publish estimates of length of roads split by speed limit across Wales by July 2023.

Figure 8 shows that during 2022, 51.1% of all road collisions occurred on 30mph roads with the next highest proportion (24.6%) occurring on 60mph roads.

Road sections with a 70mph speed limit had the lowest proportion of collisions in 2022, accounting for 4.7% of all collisions.

Figure 8: Total collisions by road speed limit, 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 8: The bar chart shows total collisions by road speed limit, 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

For KSI collisions, the distribution was broadly similar to total collisions. The proportion of KSI collisions tends to increase with the speed limit of the road. For example, around a third of all collisions on 50mph and 60mph roads were KSI collisions, compared to around a fifth on 30mph roads.

Figure 9: KSI collisions by road speed limit, 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 9: The bar chart shows KSI collisions by road speed limit, 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

Contributory factors (CFs) in road collisions are the key actions and failures that led directly to the collision. They show the opinion of attending police officers for why collisions occurred and provide clues around how they may have been prevented.

Attending police officers may record up to 6 CFs for each collision from a list of 78 possible CFs. This analysis focuses on collisions which involve casualties who were either killed or seriously injured, as police officer attendance is much more common at these collisions.

The 78 CFs are subdivided into 9 categories (figure 10). These cover a number of factors such as driver/rider error, pedestrians, failing to signal or look properly and loss of control, carelessness and drivers affected by alcohol.

In 2022 a total of 1,877(r) CFs were recorded as causes of killed or seriously injured collisions in Wales. The most common CF category identified by the police was driver/rider error or reaction, used 740(r) times (representing 39.4%(r) of all KSI recorded CFs). Figure 10 shows the main contributory factors by likelihood. CFs are classed as either very likely or possible based on the officer’s confidence that they caused or contributed to causing the collision.

Figure 10: Contributory factor categories listed as cause for KSI collisions, by likelihood, 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 10: The bar chart shows contributory factor categories listed as cause for KSI collisions, by likelihood, 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

Factors are identified on the basis of evidence, and this may come from various sources such as witness statements and vehicle and site inspections. CFs may be subjective and depend on the skill and experience of the investigating officer to reconstruct the events which led directly to the collision. They reflect the reporting officer’s opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation.

Figure 11 shows the most common individual CFs judged to be either possible or very likely causes for KSI collisions in 2022. The two most common contributory factors were ‘failed to look properly’ (235(r) cases) and 'loss of control’ (186(r) cases). Seven of the top ten CFs relate to the driver/rider, two relate to the road environment and one relates to pedestrians.

Note: An error was identified in our previous release which under reported the number of CFs for KSI collisions in 2022. Therefore, these figures have been revised to take into account this error, in addition to the late submission by one police force (detailed in the quality section).

Figure 11: The most common causes of KSI collisions, by reporting officers’ confidence, 2022 (revised)

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Description of Figure 11: The bar chart shows the most common causes of KSI collisions, by reporting officers’ confidence, 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

Individual road collisions can result in multiple casualties with different severity of injury. In 2022, around 23% of collisions involved more than one casualty.

This section includes high level information on casualties, breakdowns of this data is available in our reported road casualties Wales bulletin which will be published on 20th June 2023. The reported road casualties Wales bulletin will include further breakdowns such as road users, age and sex.

During 2022, police recorded road collisions resulted in 4,447(r) casualties. Of these casualties:

• 95(r) were fatal, 9(r) more (10.5%(r)) than in 2021
• 921 people were seriously injured, broadly similar to 2021
• 3,431(r) casualties were slightly injured, 94(r) more (2.8% (r)) compared to 2021
• compared to 2019 (the last full year prior to pandemic), fatal casualties were similar, serious casualties decreased by 16.1%(r) and slight casualties fell by 25.7%(r)

Figure 12 illustrates the trend in the number of fatal, serious and KSI casualties since 1999 to date. Over this time there was a significant fall in KSI casualties, from 1,871 KSI casualties in 1999 to a low of 820 in 2020 respectively.

Care should be taken in making comparisons with 2020 as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted both collision and casualty figures.

In 2022, there was a total of 1,016(r) reported KSI road casualties in Wales. This was broadly similar to 2021 and a 14.8% (r) decrease compared to 2019 (before the pandemic).

Figure 12: KSI casualties by severity, 1999 to 2022

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Description of Figure 12: The line chart shows the trend in KSI casualties by severity, 1999 to 2022.

Source: Road Accident Statistics, Welsh Government

Context

This bulletin provides information relevant to road safety policy in relation to police recorded road collisions and provides a starting point for any further, in-depth investigation of the collisions resulting in casualties.

Road safety targets for Wales

The Welsh Government road safety targets previously presented in this bulletin ended in 2020. Information on these can be accessed in previous versions of this release. Once new safety targets for Wales have been set we will look to include information on these in future publications.

Related publications

Related publications relating to the Stats19 data (i.e. police recorded road collisions data) are available on the statistics and research website.

Not updated: The Department for Transport publishes 'Reported road casualties in Great Britain main results' annually.

Transport Scotland publishes 'Key reported road casualties Scotland' annually. Statistics for 2021 were published in May 2022. The road traffic collision statistics team of the Police Service of Northern Ireland published Police Recorded Injury Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties Northern Ireland 2022 Key Statistics Report on 31 March 2023.

Data covering previous years’ collision, casualty and vehicle data are published on StatsWales quarterly. Accompanying the data is individual collision level data and a data dictionary outlining the variables that are included in the collection of Road Collision Stats19 data.

We also publish an interactive dashboard alongside this statistical bulletin. The dashboard allows users to explore a range of geographical, demographic and other features of the data.

Relevance

There are a variety of organisations that use the Welsh road traffic collision and casualty data. The Welsh Government uses road traffic collision and casualty data to help set road safety policy. It is also used for performance indicators, both for the Welsh Government’s Transport Strategy and for some Health Performance indicators. Other users include Highway Authorities, covering the Welsh Government, which is responsible for the motorway and trunk road network, and local authorities, which are responsible for other roads in Wales. Other bodies involved in road safety include the Safety Camera Partnership, Trunk Road Agents, and Police & Community Safety Partnerships. Welsh Government also provides data to transport planning organisations to support road safety assessments.

Accuracy

The statistics refer to casualties resulting from personal injury collisions on public roads reported to the police and forwarded to the Welsh Government. The police compile statistical data about road traffic collisions and casualties (called Stats19 data) for the Welsh Government and the Department for Transport (DfT). This follows police attendance at collisions that involve any personal injury, together with members of the public reporting personal injury collisions directly to the police. The figures are based on information available to the government 14 weeks after the end of the latest quarter. In addition, changes in police recording practices may mean that the statistics are not directly comparable over time. The figures shown may change in future if there are late amendments. Similarly, the figures for earlier years may differ from those previously published. The figures cover only road collisions reported to the police involving personal injury. There is some possibility of under-reporting and under-recording as well as the misclassification of collisions, though these are minimised by local authorities and the Welsh Government conducting a number of data validations. For example, Welsh Government data analysts may query the location of an collision with a police force when the grid reference of an collision is in a different local authority to the one specified in the data return. This data is obtained from administrative sources and thus may be affected by changes in procedures within those systems. The Welsh Government is working with the Welsh police authorities to quality assure the data systems that are used to produce these statistics. In 2022 the Welsh Government together with Police Forces established a Stats19 Data Collectors user group to discuss challenges faced and collaborate on solutions around data collection and validation.

The UK Department for Transport explores the additional sources in some detail in its Reported Road Casualties report for Great Britain. Its analysis of National Travel Survey (NTS) data suggest that approximately 50% of collisions involving some degree of personal injury, and two thirds of all non-fatal road casualties, are not reported to police. Examples of injuries reported in the NTS include whiplash and minor cuts and bruises, but it is not known how many of these would have qualified as recordable injuries had police attended the scene. Analysis of motor insurance claims statistics indicates that a very significant proportion of the injuries not reported to police are likely to be whiplash. We are involved in the process of reviewing the terminology used in the release and further updates will be provided in future publications, where appropriate.

Timeliness and punctuality

This release will be followed by a supplementary Statistical Bulletin to provide users with more information on key topics.

Related publications are available from the Statistics and Research website. Road Collision statistics for Wales are available on StatsWales. A road collision dashboard that accompanies the report is available on Police recorded road collisions: interactive dashboard. Results for Great Britain will be published by the Department for Transport via the Road collisions and safety statistics (Department for Transport).

Accessibility and clarity

This statistical release is pre-announced and published on the Welsh Government’s Statistics & Research website and all the data in this bulletin, as well as for previous years, are available on StatsWales.

Comparability and coherence

This first release will be followed by a further publication that is intended to provide users with more information about road collisions and casualties in Wales during 2021. A casualty is defined as, a person killed or injured in an collision. One collision may give rise to several casualties. Casualties are subdivided into killed, seriously injured and slightly injured categories. Casualties reported as killed include only those cases where death occurs in less than 30 days as a result of the collision. They do not include those who died as a result of natural causes (e.g. heart attack) rather than as a result of the collision, nor do they include confirmed suicides.

Revisions

The bulletin was revised on 11 October 2023 to incorporate the late submission of data relating to 3 road traffic collisions (and 5 casualties) data from one police force. This has had a minor impact on most 2022 figures in this bulletin. As a result of the revision:

• the number of collisions changed from 3,312 to 3,315
• the number of casualties changed from 4,442 to 4,447
• the number of people killed changed from 93 to 95

Data quality issues/ under reporting issues

• For the 2012 data: Between April 2012 and the beginning of 2013, South Wales Police made changes to their procedures for recording this data which led to a number of slight and serious casualties being recorded that would not have been the case in previous and subsequent years. This means that the comparison of 2013 with 2012 overstates the change in slight and serious casualties. This issue does not affect the measure of road traffic fatalities.
• For the 2015 data: South Wales Police experienced difficulties with their Road Collision software and were unable to provide their full set of casualty data. The extent of this under-reporting is thought to be roughly 10 collisions missing from the data presented in this release and includes at least one fatal road collision.
• For the 2015 data: The number of collisions for Gwent Police for 2015 is much lower than for 2014.
• With the imposed COVID-19 travel restrictions in 2020, the collection of STATS19 data was affected by different factors. These factors include police force staff involved in providing data adjusting to home working (requiring additional IT system resets by all police forces) and missing spatial data for some collisions (this did not affect the data presented in this release).

National Statistics status

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards. All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate. The designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in July 2013 following a full assessment against the Code of Practice.

Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have made the following improvements: • Improved visuals by de-cluttering and standardising charts and tables It is Welsh Government’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.

Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.

We welcome any feedback on any aspect of these statistics which can be provided by email to: stats.transport@gov.wales

Statistician: James Khonje
Email: stats.transport@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

SFR 37/2023 (R)

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