UK Road Safety & Barrier Statistics | 2025 Data

This page collates key UK statistics on road safety, workplace transport accidents, vehicle crime, and related data that inform the specification and use of safety barriers and bollards. All statistics are sourced from official UK government bodies and reputable industry organisations. This page is updated annually as new data becomes available.

UK Road Casualty Statistics (Department for Transport)

Source: DfT Reported Road Casualties Great Britain (RRCGB) — annual publication. Most recently published data: 2023 RRCGB (published Autumn 2024).

• Total reported road casualties in Great Britain (2023): Approximately 135,480 casualties of all severity. This represents a long-term downward trend from peaks in the 1980s, attributed partly to improved infrastructure including vehicle restraint systems, speed calming, and pedestrian safety measures.
• Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) (2023): Approximately 29,514 KSI in Great Britain — a figure that has remained frustratingly stable since 2012 after rapid falls in earlier decades.
• Pedestrian KSI (2023): Approximately 4,800 pedestrians killed or seriously injured — pedestrians remain among the most vulnerable road users.
• Child pedestrian casualties: Children under 16 account for approximately 15% of all pedestrian casualties. School proximity and residential areas are key risk environments.
• Fatalities (2023): Approximately 1,695 road deaths in Great Britain — each representing a preventable tragedy and a cost to families, communities, and the economy.

Relevance for barrier buyers: Road casualty data provides the evidence base for traffic calming and pedestrian safety investments. Local authorities and highways authorities use STATS19 data (the official road accident reporting system) to prioritise locations for speed reduction, pedestrian guardrail, and vehicle exclusion measures.

Source: Department for Transport, Reported Road Casualties Great Britain. www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report

Cost of Road Traffic Accidents to the UK Economy

• Total reported cost of road traffic accidents to UK economy (2023): The DfT's valuation of prevention methodology places the total cost of all reported road accidents at approximately £36–38 billion per year when adjusted for human costs (pain, grief, suffering) as well as direct costs (property damage, insurance, medical, police, emergency services).
• Cost per fatal accident: DfT values a human life prevented (VPF) at approximately £2.3 million (2023 prices) — the primary driver of the overall accident cost figure.
• Cost per KSI accident: Approximately £260,000–£280,000 per KSI casualty including human, economic, and indirect costs.

Relevance for barrier buyers: These figures provide the economic justification for investment in safety barriers and traffic calming. A speed bump installation costing £1,500 that prevents a single KSI accident delivers an economic saving of £260,000+ — a return on investment that no purely financial measure can capture.

Source: DfT TAG Unit A4.1, Valuation of Travel Time Savings and Reliability; DfT, Road Accidents and Safety Statistics. www.gov.uk/guidance/tag-unit-a4-1-social-impact-appraisal

Workplace Transport Accident Statistics (HSE)

Source: HSE, Work-Related Fatal Injuries in Great Britain — annual RIDDOR data release.

• Workplace transport fatalities (2022/23): Approximately 25% of all workplace fatalities in Great Britain involve workplace transport — in 2022/23 this equated to approximately 35 workplace transport fatalities (of 135 total fatal injuries to workers).
• Non-fatal workplace transport injuries: Over 5,000 workplace transport accidents are reported under RIDDOR annually, including approximately 600–700 serious (specified) injuries.
• Forklift truck accidents: HSE data consistently identifies fork lift trucks (FLTs) as involved in approximately 1,300 serious injuries and 10 fatalities per year. FLT-pedestrian collisions account for a significant proportion of these.
• Struck by moving vehicle: "Struck by moving vehicle" is one of the top 5 causes of workplace fatalities in Great Britain, across all sectors.

Relevance for barrier buyers: Workplace transport accident statistics provide the business case for warehouse safety barriers, pedestrian segregation systems, and forklift protection barriers. The HSE regularly cites inadequate pedestrian/vehicle segregation as a causal factor in workplace transport incidents — physical barriers are the primary control measure.

Source: HSE, Work-Related Fatal Injuries Statistics, https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm; HSE, HSG136 Workplace Transport Safety, www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg136.htm

Vehicle Crime Against Retail Premises

Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report; British Retail Consortium, BRC Retail Crime Survey.

• UK Finance data consistently records hundreds of ATM-related attacks annually, with ram raids accounting for a significant proportion. The value of cash stolen in ATM ram raids runs to tens of millions of pounds annually.
• The BRC Annual Retail Crime Survey identifies vehicle crime (including ram raids) as one of the top three crime types by value impacting UK retailers, with millions of pounds of damages annually across the sector.
• High-value retailers (jewellers, electronics, phone stores) face the highest per-incident losses from vehicle attacks.
• Insurance industry data indicates that ram raid incidents not only result in direct loss but in significant secondary costs: structural repairs (typically £5,000–£50,000 per incident), temporary security measures, business interruption, and reputational damage.

Relevance for barrier buyers: Vehicle ram raid statistics justify investment in PAS 68 / IWA 14-1 rated bollards and barriers at retail storefronts. The cost of installation (£1,300–£5,000 per bollard installed) is typically recovered by the prevention of a single incident. Some insurers now require physical HVM as a condition of cover for high-risk retail premises.

Source: UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report, www.ukfinance.org.uk; British Retail Consortium, BRC Retail Crime Survey, www.brc.org.uk

EV Charging Point Growth in the UK (OZEV / DfT)

Source: DfT/OZEV, Electric Vehicle Charging Device Statistics.

• Public charging connectors in the UK (Q3 2024): Approximately 60,000+ public charge point connectors, according to the Zap-Map database and DfT statistics. This figure has grown approximately 40% year-on-year in recent years.
• Government target: The UK government's EV Infrastructure Strategy (2022) targets 300,000 public charge points by 2030 — a five-fold increase from 2024 levels.
• Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers (50kW+): Approximately 10,000+ rapid chargers available as of 2024, with rapid growth continuing.
• Approved Document S (2022): Building Regulations require new commercial buildings with 10+ parking spaces to provide EV charge points — approximately 200,000 new commercial charge points are expected to be installed by 2030 as a result of this requirement alone.

Relevance for barrier buyers: The rapid growth of EV charging infrastructure creates a proportionally growing market for EV charge point protection bollards and barriers. A typical workplace charge point (£3,000–£10,000 installed) can be protected by 2–3 bollards for £460–£1,200 — a small fraction of the replacement cost.

Source: DfT/OZEV, Electric Vehicle Charging Device Statistics GB, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electric-vehicle-charging-device-statistics; Zap-Map, ZapStats, www.zap-map.com/statistics

Construction Site Accident Statistics (HSE)

Source: HSE, Construction Statistics in Great Britain — annual publication.

• Construction fatalities (2022/23): 45 workers killed in construction — the highest annual total in recent years and a reversal of a long downward trend. Construction consistently has among the highest fatality rates of any UK industry sector.
• Causes of construction fatalities: Falls from height account for ~40%; struck by moving objects (including vehicles) accounts for approximately 18%; contact with moving machinery approximately 8%.
• Non-fatal injuries in construction (2022/23): Approximately 45,000 non-fatal injuries to construction workers reported (RIDDOR and LFS combined estimate).
• Construction contributes approximately 13% of all UK workplace fatal injuries despite accounting for ~7% of workers.

Relevance for barrier buyers: Construction site accident statistics provide the CDM 2015 and HSE compliance basis for site traffic management investment. Physical pedestrian segregation barriers, plant exclusion zone fencing, and site hoarding are all directly relevant to the "struck by moving vehicle" and "struck by moving object" categories.

Source: HSE, Construction Statistics in Great Britain, www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/construction

UK Events Industry: Events Requiring Crowd Management

Source: UK Events Report; Association of Festival Organisers; Eventbrite UK data.

• UK live events market size: Pre-pandemic, the UK events industry was estimated at £70+ billion annually (Events Industry Forum, 2020 estimate).
• Number of licensed events in the UK: Hundreds of thousands of events require a premises licence or Temporary Event Notice (TEN) under the Licensing Act 2003 annually.
• Major outdoor events (>5,000 attendees): Approximately 1,000–2,000 major outdoor events take place in the UK each year, each requiring formal event safety plans and typically barrier and crowd management infrastructure.
• Music festivals: The UK hosts approximately 900 music festivals annually (Association of Festival Organisers data), ranging from small community events to events with 100,000+ attendees.

Relevance for barrier buyers: The UK events industry is a major consumer of crowd control barriers, temporary fencing, and vehicle exclusion barriers. The growth of the events industry post-pandemic has driven increased demand for both hire and purchase of event safety barriers.

Source: Events Industry Forum, Purple Guide, www.thepurpleguide.co.uk; Association of Festival Organisers, www.afotouring.co.uk

UK Road Humps: Estimated Number in Use

There is no official centralised record of the total number of road humps on UK roads. However, estimates can be constructed from available data:

• Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) research and local authority monitoring suggests that major UK cities have implemented thousands of traffic calming features each. London alone is estimated to have over 10,000 road humps and speed cushions.
• UK traffic calming schemes have been implemented at a rate of several thousand per year since the Highways (Road Humps) Regulations 1999 came into force.
• The total number of road humps on UK public roads is estimated to be in the range of 100,000–200,000 (including road humps, speed tables, raised junctions, and speed cushions).

Relevance for barrier buyers: The scale of existing traffic calming infrastructure creates a significant market for rubber speed bump supply to private roads and car parks, where installation can proceed without highway authority approval.

Source: TRL research publications; individual local authority traffic calming surveys; DfT transport statistics.

Cost of Vehicle Crime to UK Businesses

Source: UK Finance; Association of British Insurers (ABI); CRIMEWATCH (Association of Chief Police Officers commercial crime data).

• The ABI estimates that vehicle-related commercial crime (including theft from premises, ram raids, and ATM attacks) costs UK businesses hundreds of millions of pounds annually in direct losses and associated costs.
• Insurance industry sources estimate that the fully-loaded cost to businesses (direct loss, business interruption, repair costs, increased premiums, security enhancements following attack) can be 3–5 times the value of the goods stolen.
• Small convenience stores and off-licences targeted by vehicle attacks face average repair costs of £10,000–£30,000 per incident from structural damage alone.

Relevance for barrier buyers: The scale of vehicle crime costs to UK businesses provides a compelling financial case for investment in physical security barriers. For high-value retailers and businesses with ATMs, PAS 68 rated bollards and barriers typically cost less than a single ram raid incident.

Source: Association of British Insurers, www.abi.org.uk; UK Finance, Annual Fraud Report, www.ukfinance.org.uk

Data Notes and Disclaimer

All statistics on this page are sourced from reputable official or industry bodies as noted. Where precise figures are not publicly available, estimates are provided with appropriate caveats and source attribution. Statistics are updated annually — figures cited represent the most recent available data as of the page publication/update date. Barriers Co does not take responsibility for the accuracy of third-party data.

If you are a journalist, researcher, or academic who would like to discuss the statistics on this page or requires additional information for publication, please contact Barriers Co via our website.

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