UK Road Casualties Remain Low but Serious Injuries Rise
The Department for Transport's latest Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2025 (the Report) statistics present a mixed picture for the insurance market. While road fatalities continued to decline and remain below pre-pandemic levels, the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) increased, highlighting ongoing challenges for motor insurers as claim severity continues to rise.
Key findings
The Report has been compiled by using data reported to the Department for Transport by Police forces, using the data collection system known as STATS19.
In 2025, there were:
1,538 road fatalities, down 4% from 2024 (1,602 fatalities) and one of the lowest figures recorded outside the pandemic period.
29,918 KSI casualties, up 4% from 2024.
127,883 casualties of all severities, broadly unchanged year-on-year.
While long-term road safety trends remain positive, with fatalities more than halving since 2004, the increase in serious injuries is particularly significant for insurers because KSI claims are typically associated with higher indemnity spend, longer claim lifecycles and increased reserve pressure.
Serious injury trends continue to drive claims costs
Although collision frequency has stabilised, the rise in serious injuries may continue to contribute to elevated bodily injury claim costs. KSI numbers have remained relatively stable over the past decade after substantial reductions before 2010, suggesting that future gains in road safety may be harder to achieve.
For insurers, this reinforces a familiar trend: fewer deaths but more survivors with life-changing injuries requiring extensive rehabilitation, care, accommodation and future loss calculations. As claims inflation remains a major concern across the market, any increase in KSI volumes is likely to be closely monitored.
Vulnerable road users remain a key exposure
Road casualty data highlights the ongoing risks faced by vulnerable road users. Although car occupants represented 53% of KSI casualties, pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists accounted for a disproportionately high proportion of fatal and serious injuries when compared with the amount of traffic attributable to these groups.
Motorcyclists remain the highest-risk road users, accounting for 25% of all road deaths despite representing only 1% of road traffic. Fatalities among motorcyclists increased for the second consecutive year. KSIs among vulnerable road users also rose, particularly for pedal cyclists.
This impact of this trend may affect motor liability exposure, catastrophic injury claims, fleet and commercial motor risk management programmes, and urban mobility and active travel-related claims.
Demographic influences
Males continued to account for the majority of road casualties in 2025, representing 77% of fatalities, 68% of KSI, and 61% of all casualties. People aged 17 to 49 made up over half of all KSI casualties, although their share has declined as casualty reductions have been greater among younger age groups.
Since 2004, the age profile of casualties has shifted towards older people, with those aged 50 and over accounting for a growing proportion of fatalities and serious injuries. Those aged 70 and over were most likely to suffer fatal or serious injuries when involved in a collision.
Pedestrians accounted for the largest share of KSI casualties among children, while motorcyclists and car drivers were most affected among younger adults and car drivers and pedestrians among older people.
The demographic shift impacts care and support costs, rehabilitation requirements, and future loss assessments.
Human factors still dominate road risk
The Report continues to demonstrate that driver behaviour remains a leading cause of severe collisions.
Most notably, at least one speed-related factor was recorded in 52% of fatal collisions. Around two-thirds of fatal collisions involved one of the "fatal four" risk factors: speeding, alcohol/drug impairment, seatbelt non-use or mobile device use. Approximately 25% of car occupant fatalities involved individuals not wearing seatbelts and at least a quarter of collisions were estimated to involve someone driving for work purposes.
These findings reinforce the importance of behavioural risk management for commercial fleets and employers, while providing further evidence for underwriting and risk-engineering initiatives focused on telematics, driver monitoring and road safety interventions.
Summary
For motor insurers, the headline reduction in fatalities is encouraging, but the increase in serious injuries presents a more complex challenge. The combination of rising KSI numbers, persistent claims inflation, vulnerable road user exposure and an ageing population suggests that severity, rather than frequency, is likely to remain the key driver of claims costs.
The key areas to remain in focus include trends in catastrophic and large-loss claims, vulnerable road user exposures, fleet risk management strategies, the impact of ADAS and emerging autonomous vehicle technologies on collision patterns, and rehabilitation and care cost inflation.
What next?
The UK's roads remain among the safest internationally, ranking among the countries with the lowest road fatality rates globally. However, the latest figures underline that progress in reducing serious injuries has largely plateaued. The focus is therefore shifting from reducing collision frequency to managing increasingly complex and expensive injury claims in a changing mobility environment.
Claims frequency may be stable, but severity remains the key challenge. Rising KSI numbers, vulnerable road user exposure, workforce driving risks and demographic changes mean that motor insurers should expect continued pressure on bodily injury claims despite historically low fatality rates.
