News & Features

The UK's Safest Areas to Drive in

Posted in General News on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

The car parts marketplace, Ovoko used historical data from the Department for Transport to discover the areas of the UK with the fewest collisions on average per billion vehicle miles between 2013 and 2022. It was discovered that Perth and Kinross in Scotland is statistically the UK’s safest area to drive in. Between 2013 and 2022, there were 122.73 collisions on average per billion vehicle miles. In 2019 there were only 78 collisions per billion vehicle miles. Coming in second was the Shetland Islands, with an average of 127.25 collisions per billion vehicle miles. The area’s safest year was found to be 2022, with just 43 collisions per billion vehicle miles. Third place goes to the Monmouthshire area, located in Wales. It has had 131.85 collisions per billion vehicle miles on average across the years recorded in the study. Figures were lowest in 2016, with 102 collisions per billion vehicle miles. Fourth place goes to another Scottish area in Moray, this area saw 132.79 collisions per billion vehicle miles. Collisions were lowest in 2021, with 59 collisions per billion vehicle miles. 

The first English area to feature on the list, West Berkshire, rounds out the top five, with an average of 137.88 collisions per billion vehicle miles. 2018 was statistically the safest year in the area, with 106 collisions per billion vehicle miles. 

When looking at all UK areas, on average, each area has had 454.56 collisions per vehicle miles over the period studied. An Ovoko spokesperson said: “You might expect numbers to be at their lowest in 2020 and 2021, amongst COVID-19 lockdowns meaning fewer cars on the road overall; however, for many areas in this top ten, this is not the case. Another interesting thing to note is the drop off in collisions for many areas between 2021 and 2022, and it will be worth noting whether these numbers continue to drop into the 2020s, with the government’s attempted efforts to make roads safer.” 

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