Road deaths remain stagnant at four per day as Government preps safety strategy
Road casualty figures stagnated in 2024, with fatalities down just 1% on the year before despite calls for reform...
An average of four people per day were killed in road traffic accidents in 2025, according to estimated figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), marking little change compared with 2024.
The provisional report from the DfT suggests that there were 1556 fatalities on UK roads last year – down 3% compared with 1602 deaths in 2024.
The number of people killed or seriously injured, however, increased by 4% to 29,911, while casualties of all severities remained stagnant with negligible change.
While car occupants represented the largest proportion of fatalities, at 53%, the DfT’s figures suggest cars are becoming safer for drivers and passengers, decreasing by 15% over the last decade. From 2024 to 2025, car occupant fatalities dropped by 8%, despite traffic levels having increased, according to DfT data.
Read more: The safest cars 2025
However, the figures also indicate that this increase in safety for car occupants does not extend to other vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Fatalities among motorcyclists jumped 13% in 2025 from the year before, while casualties of all severities increased by 4% and 10% for pedestrians and pedal cyclists respectively.
These figures are still yet to be fully validated by the DfT, but they suggest that fatalities among all types of road user have declined since 2015 – apart from its ‘other vehicle occupants’ category, which has increased substantially. The DfT puts this down to the spike in numbers of e-scooters on the road since 2020.
Despite the overall declines over the past decade, road fatalities have seen little change compared with 2024. This has sparked concern among industry experts, who have urged the Government to ensure its upcoming Road Safety Strategy is implemented urgently and effectively.
“These figures show a lost decade in terms of reducing the number of serious casualties and highlights the urgency of implementing measures to improve road safety,” said Nicholas Lyes, director of policy at IAM RoadSmart.
“The UK Government’s strategy will undoubtedly address some of these issues, but it must be backed by clear timelines, proper funding, and decisive action if we are to make substantial progress in making our roads safer.”
Published earlier this year, the Government’s Road Safety Strategy proposes a number of measures designed to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on UK roads by 65% before 2035. These measures include a lower drink drive limit in England and Wales, eyesight tests for drivers over 70 and a minimum number of lessons for learner drivers before they can take their practical test.
RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: “Frighteningly, on average four people still lose their lives on the roads every single day. If this number of people lost their lives on any other form of transport, serious questions would be being asked.
“While pedestrian fatalities are down slightly year-on-year, casualties are up, and it’s still the case that on average one pedestrian is killed every day – an unacceptable statistic.
“Now that consultation on the Road Safety Strategy has concluded, we look forward to hearing what concrete actions the Government decides to take to make headway on reducing casualties of all kinds on the roads.”
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