Road Traffic Accidents - The Facts
Road Traffic Accidents
Posted on: May 18th, 2021
Not all road traffic accidents are the same, as some would require more compensation than others. With the fluctuation of travel bans during COVID-19 combined with key workers needing to drive into work, road traffic accidents haven’t just become extinct. Rather, they are now on the rise with the lockdown rules slowly easing. Here are some worrying facts about road traffic accidents and why to claim for compensation if you haven’t already.
With around 40 million UK drivers issued with a license across the nation at the end of 2020, it isn’t uncommon to know someone that has been in a road traffic accident. In 2020, Great Britain saw 131,220 casualties and 24,470 killed, which includes pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorists. Looking closely at these numbers, it seems that they have decreased, however, the declines are simply believed to be due to COVID 19 and are predicted to return to normal again.
Despite these statistics being low, the common injuries stayed the same - by September 2020, according to the DVLA, there were 21.9 million driving licenses issued to men and 18.8 million issued to women. The most common age of those that suffered a road traffic accident were aged 60 or over as studies carried out by RAC Foundation suggested. The most common injuries were non-fatal casualties towards pedestrians (which was up by 3% since 2018). On the other hand, those causing accidents were aged between 17 - 24, with young drivers being three times higher perpetrators in the UK than car drivers of all ages.
What’s more is that in 2019, most casualties that occurred (around 63%) were on urban roads, where the higher average speeds can cause serious collisions. And whilst motorways are seen to carry 20% of traffic in the UK, they only actually accounted for around 6% of fatalities, as suggested by the 2019 Road Casualties in Great Britain report.
According to Think.Gov.uk, 60% of all fatalities occur on UK country roads, with around 10% of those on country roads being fatally injured compared to those on motorways in the past 4 years. Some of the major contributions to road traffic accidents are actually very easily deterred - for accidents with pedestrians, this is careless or reckless driving (accounting for 17% of accidents and 62% being driver error, which includes failure to look at mirrors and poor manoeuvring).
You have up to 3 years after an accident to start an injury claim so don’t wait any longer to seek legal advice if you have been affected.
Charles Atha of Atha & Co says “We don’t wish anybody to be injured in a road traffic accident, although sadly they are all too common these days. If you are unfortunate enough to have been in an accident that wasn’t your fault then you need an experienced Personal Injury Lawyer on your side. We pride ourselves on not only supporting our clients through what can be seen as quite a stressful time, but also on securing maximum compensation for their suffering. If this affects you please call us on 01642 222575.” Choose the One you Know – Atha & Co