Road Casualties in Great Britain: Quarterly Provisional Estimates Q3 2008
This publication includes National Statistics on road casualties in personal injury road accidents reported to the police in Great Britain for the third quarter of 2008, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
The provisional estimates show the number of fatalities in road accidents were down by 15 per cent for the twelve months ending September 2008 compared with the previous 12 months. Total casualties were down by 8 per cent, and killed and seriously injured casualties 8 per cent, compared with the previous 12 months.
Notes
1. Road Casualties in Great Britain: Quarterly Provisional Estimates is a series providing estimates of personal injury road accidents and their casualties. These estimates are published to allow emerging trends to be monitored between the publications of annual figures. It should be noted that no single quarter's figures should be taken in isolation, especially if they appear to show a change in trend, as there are random fluctuations particularly in the smaller categories of road user.
2. Very few, if any, fatal accidents do not become known to the police. However, research conducted on behalf of the Department in the 1990s has shown that a significant proportion of 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 Department is undertaking further research to investigate whether the levels of reporting have changed. The most recent work on levels of reporting was published by the Department in an article in Road Casualties Great Britain: 2007 Annual Report (pages 66-78), which can be found at the address below.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/162469/221412/221549/227755/rcgb2007.pdf.
3. Figures for deaths refer to persons killed immediately or who died within 30 days of the accident. This is the usual international definition, adopted by the Vienna Convention in 1968. Similar statistics of deaths on public roads, but compiled by date of registration, are published by the Registrars General.
Publication details
Published on 5 February 2009 by Transport Statistics.
Email: roadacc.stats@dft.gov.uk for queries concerning road casualty statistics.
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