DfT casualty figures: ‘just the tip of the iceberg’?

12.00 | 17 July 2012 | | 6 comments

DfT figures showing an increase in the number of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads could be masking a far worse situation, according to Cardinus Risk Management (Fleet News).

The DfT’s Reported Road Casualties 2011, published in June, revealed that the number of people killed in road collisions increased by 3% in 2011, and the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) also increased by 2%.

The DfT shows at total of 203,950 injuries on UK roads last year, but John Davidge, head of fleet technical at Cardinus Risk Management, believes these figures could be just the tip of the iceberg and that the real numbers are much higher.

Mr Davidge said: “We’re pretty sure we know about all the deaths on our roads but hospital figures alone reveal that there are injuries not reported to police, and therefore not in the stats. Despite all the hype about whiplash, there are genuine cases not felt until days later, which are seldom officially recorded.

“An educated estimate is that there are around 700,000 injuries on UK roads, yearly.”

Click here to read the full Fleet News report.

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    There is a lot of analysis of stats here. I would just say, look at who initiated this report and what do they get out of it? More training within the commercial sector. Enough said.

    We can argue one stat over another but it’s just fluff. May I suggest that we dont waste any more time with this.


    bob craven Lancs
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    Could the reduction of speed limits have had any contribution to the figures? Lower limits bring about more frustration to many drivers. My trip back home yesterday, there was not much traffic but at the front was a slow moving vehicle which contained a line of traffic behind it. How many times does this transpire with frustrated drivers trying to get past with sometimes fatal consequences? Many limits are unjustly too low. Also noticed that a speed camera was parked near to a motorcycle meeting place when it would have been better on the main stretch of the road where they are exceeding the limit by a great margin. Better still, where was any road policing unit(s) which are more effective and acceptable to all in place of the finance generators?


    R Oliver Derbyshire
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    I heartily agree with Andrew Fraser – although I have not been able to track down the Cardinus report in question- where is it? Nothing you quote from it is remotely new, and was probably true 10/20/30/40/50 years ago.

    As I have just commented on the first report this week, there never has been any question of POLICE deliberately under-reporting accidents of which they have been made aware – it is invariably the case that more and more PEOPLE – perhaps understandably – involved in accidents AVOID CALLING THE POLICE if they possibly can. And the more people have penalty points and are at risk of losing the licenses, the more they will avoid doing so – arguably the one way in which speed cameras might bring about the appearance (though not the reality) of accident reductions!

    The DtT analysis for 2009 estimated that reporting levels of SI had fallen from 1 in 2.7 in 1 in 3.5 – which would have resulted in a 24% apparent fall in SI had nothing else changed.


    Idris Francis
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    This is not news. The main figures are well within the expected boundaries. Variability will increase as numbers fall. The same pattern can be seen in previous years. The rate of reduction, however, is far slower than it ought to be, possibly because we’ve taken our collective eye off the ball, and started to rely on “changing behaviour” – a well nigh impossible task – instead of using our ingenuity.

    The earlier (rather complacent) comment on STATS19, however, is a concern. STATS19 certainly is not perfect – it is detailed, incomplete, and unreliable to an extent that is quite unacceptable in the 21st Century. Why on earth are we not demanding that the system be brought up to date with the latest research in information design and database taxonomies? The data are fundamental to our work, but (conscientious) users should not have to spend precious study time querying and correcting it – and collectors should have an intuitive system, in which the various attributes are mutually exclusive and exhaustive – and it should be a system which will be coded in the same way regardless of the coder.


    Andrew Fraser, Stirling
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    According to the DfT’s 2011 report, the best estimate for the actual number of casualties in Britain in 2011 (mainly derived from the National Travel Survey, but also based on hospital admissions and compensation claims in addition to Stats 19 data), including those not reported to police, is within the range 660,000 to 800,00 with a central estimate of 730,000.

    However, we should bear in mind that whilst Stats 19 is not perfect, it remains the most detailed, complete and reliable single source of information on road casualties covering the whole of Great Britain, in particular for monitoring trends over time.


    Peter Slater, North East Regional Road Safety Resource
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    I think that this a is a case that will always be, of whiplash either due to real accidents or illegally in order to pursue litigation, that and other minor injuries just being diagnosed and treated by local doctors.

    Little will change in this respect.


    bob craven Lancs
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