Driving Related Facts and Figures

• In 2001 there were 313,046 casualties of all types on Britain's roads, of which 3443 were fatalities (or more than 9 per day).
• Of the 9 per day, 5 were car users, 2 were pedestrians and the remainder on motorcycles or in buses, coaches or trucks. 40% of all pedestrian fatalities are children.
• It is now officially confirmed that 30% of all fatalities and serious injuries on Britain's roads involve somebody who is at work.
• Driving is now officially the most dangerous activity within the workplace environment.
• In 2001, serious injuries (i.e. where the outcome has a permanent effect on people's lives) numbered 37,094 or just over 100 every day of the year.
• In 2001, there were 28,768 two wheel vehicle user casualties, 2% up on the previous year.
• A TRL report confirms that accident liability rises between 29 and 50% in the case of fleet drivers.
• Average probability of occupational fatality - Deep sea fishing 1:750; Coal mining 1:7100; Driving 25,000 miles p.a. 1:8000; Construction 1: 10,000; Service industries 1: 150,000.
• 65% of accidents are attributable to human error alone. 95% involve human error in association with another factor.

Percentage of accidents/serious injuries by road type:

• 16% of all UK car miles are business-related.
• 66% of company cars are the subject of an insurance claim each year.
• There is a motor vehicle-related insurance claim made every 8 seconds of each working day.
• It is estimated that if all drivers in a typical 1,000-car fleet obeyed the speed limits, their company would save an estimated £250,000 a year.
• There are about 44,000 single vehicle accidents per year without an attributable cause. In other words, one car every ten minutes drives off the road for no apparent reason.
• It is estimated that company car drivers who cruise on the motorway at 85 mph consume 25% more fuel than if they had remained at 70 mph.
• Tyres under-inflated by 7 psi waste half a gallon of fuel per tank! (They are also illegal)

• Mobile phone users are four times likely to have an accident than those not so-equipped. Using a phone whilst driving is the equivalent of being in excess of the legal drink drive limit.
• At least 46 front seat car occupants are killed in the UK each year by the impact of a rear seat passenger flung forward in a crash, yet fewer than half of adults wear rear seat belts as required by UK law.
• More than 30% of incidents occur when the vehicle is reversing. The average cost of a reversing accident is £469.
• There is a motor vehicle-related insurance claim made every 8 seconds of each working day.
• 66% of company cars are the subject of an insurance claim each year.
• 25% of all fatalities are caused by reversing accidents.
• 16% of commercial vehicle insurance claims involve reversing.
• 74% of insurance claims relate to roads with a 30mph limit.
• 35% of all motorcycle accident claims involve provisional licence holders.
• Up to 67% of drivers have uncorrected sight defects. Someone totally blind in one eye and with tunnel vision in the other can still pass the basic eyesight test.
• It is estimated that road accidents cost the UK £13 billion per annum.
• The cost of one fatal accident has been put at £1 million.
• A vehicle travelling at 30mph covers the ground at a rate of 44ft per second.
• A normal person's reaction time means they will travel the same distance in feet as they were travelling in mph from the time they see a problem to the time they react to it.
• 42% of road deaths occur in darkness.
• 9% of insurance claims involve a right turn, as opposed to 4% for left turns.
• 30% of drivers claiming for accident damage say their vehicles were stationary in a line of traffic at the time.
• The worst months for accidents are October and November. The worst time is between 4pm and 5pm on a Friday.
• As many as 60% of accidents on motorways are caused by sleeping or drowsiness.
• In a recent survey, nearly 75% of all vehicles exceeded the 30mph limit in built-up areas. On motorways, 60% exceed the 70 mph limit.
• The number of drivers who believe the national speed limit is 60mph on dual carriageways far outweighs the number who (correctly) know it to be 70mph.
• Only 4% of car drivers are aware that the national speed limit for a Large Goods Vehicles on a single carriageway is 40mph.
• 85% of drivers believe aggressive driving and road rage have increased over the past three years.
• Stopping distances increase by between two and five times in the wet.
• Cars fitted with Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) are likely to take longer to stop in dry or icy conditions than cars not so fitted.
• On a wet road, with the vehicle travelling fast, each tyre might have to disperse up to 3 gallons of water per second. The legal minimum tread depth requirement in the UK is only 1.6mm.
• Yellow side-marker lights make a car up to three times more likely to be seen, whatever the weather.
• In the UK, more than 70% of all journeys of more than one mile is undertaken by car.
• 86% of all passenger miles are taken by car.
• Only 6% of all road journeys are taken using a bus or coach.
• In 1982, UK industry produced 877,000 cars. In 1996 that total had risen to 1,686,134. By the end of the year 2000 that figure exceeded 2.2 million.
• Exhaust emissions from 20 1998 model Ford Fiestas equate to those of one 1976 Ford Fiesta.
• One average-sized car's fuel tank will be responsible for releasing into the atmosphere carbon dioxide of a weight equivalent to two average adult males.
• 5 trees need to be planted to offset one car's emissions into the atmosphere every year. However, 10 trees are required to offset the emissions relating to running just one average UK domestic dwelling.
• The amount of lead released into the atmosphere from vehicles has dropped by 50% since the late seventies. Nitrogen oxides are down 26% and particulates from diesels down 28%.
• In 1996, all road transport released 22% of all UK carbon dioxide emissions, compared to 30% for industry and 25% for residential homes.
• 52% of the UK population (over 17 yrs) are regular drivers. This is about 22 million people.
• Drivers between the ages of 17 and 21 account for 16% of the driving population, but are directly responsible for 34% of serious injury and fatal accidents.
• Already claiming 500,000 lives a year and causing 15 million injuries, the Red Cross says road accidents will soon overtake war, TB and HIV as one of the world's biggest killers.
• Three quarters of the population of driving age hold driving licences; 44% of them are women.
• A survey in 1990 indicated there are 30 road traffic accidents involving horses each day; this figure is set to rise significantly in line with the popularity of this leisure persuit.
• There are approximately 26 million vehicles registered and some estimates suggest that this number will double by the year 2015.
• 20% of all cars are less than two years old but they account for 30% of UK car accident claims.
• 90% of freight tonnage goes by road (1.6 billion tonnes in total).
• A 50% increase in rail freight would result in less than a 5% decrease in road freight mileage.
• In 1970 there were 641,000 trucks over 3.5 tonnes on UK roads. In 1995 there were 545,000, a decrease of 15%.
• Less than 29% of the money raised from motor taxation is spent on road building and maintenance. This compares with 31% in Italy, 48% in Germany and 106% in the USA.
• Motorways represent 1% of all roads but carry 15% of all traffic.
• There are now more than 4 million company owned cars on the road in the UK. Europe's company car fleet totals 14.73m.
• By the year 2020 there will be around 31-32 million cars on our roads!
• Scientists now believe that fog actually encourages people to speed up, increasing risk dramatically.
• 42% of male drivers admit they drive too close to the car in front but only 26% of females admit to the same habit.
• The most common objects hit in one-vehicle accidents are lamp posts.
• Throughout the EU, road transport-related deaths account for six times more victims than cancer and 14 times more than coronary heart disease in under 45 year olds.