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Road Casualties

The number of people injured or killed in road traffic collisions

Transport Newcastle North Tyneside South Tyneside Durham Gateshead Sunderland Northumberland
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When a police officer attends or receives notification of a road traffic collision in which someone was injured, they are required to collect a detailed set of data on the collision (which is referred to as “Stats19”). These data are then sent to both the Department for Transport and the local highways authority where the collision took place for analysis. 

In the North East, the Traffic and Accident Data Unit (TADU), based at Gateshead Council, works closely with the different police forces in the region to make this data available for detailed analysis by local highways authorities. 

The numbers of people who suffer slight injuries in road traffic collisions is falling across all local authority areas. Lower volumes of traffic in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic could have contributed to lower collision numbers and lower numbers of injuries. 

Number of people killed or seriously injured - rolling 3 year average

A serious injury is an injury for which a person is detained in hospital as an "in-patient", or any of the following injuries whether or not they are detained in hospital: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, burns (excluding friction burns), severe cuts, severe general shock requiring medical treatment and injuries causing death 30 or more days after the collision. 


Number of slight injuries - rolling 3 year average

A slight injury is an injury of a minor character such as a sprain (including neck whiplash injury), bruise or cut which are not judged to be severe, or slight shock requiring roadside attention. This definition includes injuries not requiring medical treatment.