A free interactive map, CollisionMap, has been launched at https://CollisionMap.uk showing road safety data across Britain. It has been enhanced and updated to incorporate 2019 collision data that has recently been released by the Department for Transport (DfT). As well as plotting all collisions dating back to the beginning of 2011, the map allows users to examine the data by region, council area and postcode and to compare figures for 2018 with 2019. Figures can be compared for individual councils against others in the same region, and users can input the first part of a postcode to compare it to the national picture. Uniquely, CollisionMap also adjusts the collision data according to population. This means that users can more accurately compare their own location with others or with the national picture.

The data reveals some interesting headline stories:

• There has been an overall reduction in the number of both collisions and casualties in 2019 across mainland Britain - by 4.3% and 4.8 %, respectively.

• Scotland has seen the largest reduction in collisions in 2019 - down by an impressive 12.4%.

• London consistently ranks poorly for having a high number of collisions, casualties and those killed and seriously injured (KSI). However, when ranked by fatal collisions per million population, London has the lowest number of collisions that resulted in a person dying.

• Overall, Scotland’s 2019 numbers are consistently among the best, whether based on the number of collisions or when adjusted for population or the total length of roads. The exception to this is the number of fatal collisions per million population, where Scotland ranks fourth worst region in Great Britain.

• The total number of collisions resulting in a person being killed or seriously injured increased in 2019 by nearly 1% - to 25,080.

• In comparison with other regions of Great Britain, Wales saw the largest increase in the total number of collisions, up by 2.5% in 2019.

• The safest locations: there are a number of postcodes with a casualty rate, per million population, of below 1. These tend to be rural postcode districts, which have both low volumes of traffic and low populations.

• The most ‘dangerous’ British location is SW1A, which includes Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, with a rate of more than 357 thousand per million population. This exceptionally high rate is due to the relative high number of vehicles, collisions and casualties in combination with a very low population (246 people).

The map has been created by Buchanan Computing, a company that specialises in web mapping  and software for traffic engineering and highway management.

Alex Smith, Managing Director of Buchanan Computing explains why the company created the map: “Maintaining road safety is an important issue. There are severe financial pressures on local government, meaning authorities can’t always devote the necessary funding to road safety. By allowing the public free access to CollisionMap, we feel we are playing a part by providing the information they need that allows them to engage with local authorities on road safety matters.”

He continues, “What is unique to CollisionMap is that we’ve incorporated the facility for the public to see how they compare adjusted for population levels as well as the road length in their area. So, everyone can see if they are in a postcode that has good road safety and also check how their local authority stands compared to others.”

The home page map shows the collision percentage change from 2018 to 2019 for the major regions of Scotland, Wales and England. The map can be modified by selecting one of the other available options, to show: casualty percentage changes, fatal collisions per million population, killed and seriously injured (KSI) per million population, casualties per million population, and casualties per kilometre. The totals for all injury-related collisions, casualties and KSI collisions for the whole of Great Britain in 2019 are displayed next to the map. These change when the region selection changes.

When searching by postcode district – for example, LS6 - you access a map of the location of its 2019 collisions. These are colour coded by severity. The map data can be refined between any two dates within the last nine years (2011 - 2019), or expanded to show different heat maps, such as: the collision percentage change from 2018 to 2019; fatal collisions per million of population. There are also filters to select results based on the severity of the collision. On the right of the page, a series of selections allow you to filter your search results further: you can select road users by gender, age, and severity as well as filter for casualties by road user or class. The interactive gauges change with the selections and compare the selected postcode with the national level (for 2019), letting users know whether the situation in the chosen area is better or worse than the national one. For example, cyclist casualties in LS6 were worse (higher) than the national level, but for the same postcode district, casualties in cars were better (lower) than the national rate.

Are you in a postcode that has good road safety? Go to https://CollisionMap.uk to find out.

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