The UK had 122,635 recorded accidents in 2018 – that’s around 336 a day.
New research from Holts Auto also found:
- Most road accidents happen in November
- 20% of all road accidents are serious or fatal
- Birmingham is the city where most road accidents occur, followed by Leeds, then Westminster
- Most road accidents occur on 30mph roads in clear, good weather conditions (this is the same for most fatal accidents)
- Friday between 5-6pm is when motorists are most likely to have an accident on the roads
While you might expect that the winter months would see the most amount of accidents – with bad weather and dark nights making driving more hazardous – spring and summer months account for three of the top five when it comes to the greatest number of accidents:
- November – 11,168
- May – 11,050
- June – 10,995
- July – 10,985
- October – 10,897
This could be due to there being more cars on the road, as people head out and enjoy the sunshine. Or, it could be due to things like sun dazzle, when light bouncing off dirty wind screens causes dangerous visibility issues.
Four out of five of the dates with the most accidents all happen in winter months, with 19 January being the most common.
- 19 January – 504
- 2 November – 498
- 4 December – 491
- 30 November – 488
- 27 June – 488
Friday is the day when most car accidents happen, with Sunday being the safest day of the week on UK roads. Evening is the most common time of day, when people are commuting home after a long day at work.
Despite all of this, the UK has some of the safest roads in the world, with only a handful of countries ranked above Britain in terms of road user safety.
Click here for the full report
