Working Drivers Were Involved in 29% of Road Deaths in Great Britain in 2025

In 2025, 445 people died in collisions involving a driver or rider who was travelling for work. That is 29% of all road deaths in Great Britain, according to Department for Transport (DfT) estimates published in September 2026. Those collisions made up 23% of all police-reported collisions, so work-related driving appears more often in the most serious outcomes than in collisions overall.

Key Takeaways

• 445 people died in 2025 in collisions involving a working driver or rider, which is 29% of road deaths.
• 386 of those 445 were not travelling for work, and 1,183 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured.
• Work-related collisions fell from 36,472 in 2015 to 22,871 in 2025, but their share stayed near a quarter.
• The DfT says its figures are likely underestimates, because 53% of vehicles have no recorded journey purpose.
• Your risk assessment needs to cover the public your drivers meet, as well as the drivers themselves.

Where Do These Figures Come From?

The DfT drew on STATS19, the police system for recording injury collisions in Great Britain and built on earlier University College London research. STATS19 has no journey purpose for 53% of vehicles, so the DfT applied assumptions. HGVs, buses, agricultural vehicles and trams count as work vehicles by default, and so do taxis and vans recorded as commuting. That lifts the share of vehicles classed as driving for work from 12% to 14% in 2025.

Who Is Most at Risk in Work-Related Road Collisions?

This is the part I would like every health and safety professional to read twice. Of the 6,460 people killed or seriously injured in these collisions, 4,757 were classed as non-working. That group covers pedestrians, other road users and passengers in taxis and buses, and it makes up nearly three quarters of the total. Among the deaths, 386 of the 445 were non-working casualties. Pedestrians alone accounted for 1,183 killed or seriously injured, and working drivers or riders were involved in 28% of pedestrian deaths.

Across my years in enforcement and consultancy, I have often seen organisations with thorough site safety systems treat the vehicle as someone else's problem. HSE has made the same observation: companies with robust policies sometimes overlook their responsibilities when staff drive or ride for work. The figures suggest that blind spot reaches well beyond your own employees.

How Reliable Are the Numbers?

The DfT is upfront that these are likely underestimates. New journey-purpose categories introduced in 2024 complicate comparisons with earlier years. Gig economy and other informal work may be missed. There is also no mileage data, so nobody can say whether working drivers carry more risk per mile than other drivers. The fall from 36,472 collisions in 2015 is hard to read for the same reason, because changes in recording can move numbers as much as changes in behaviour. The share has stayed close to a quarter, at 26% in 2015 and 23% in 2025.

Better data is coming. Most records should use the new National Travel Survey-aligned categories from 2025 onwards.

What Does the Law Expect from Employers?

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 apply to work on the road in the same way as work anywhere else. Employers need to assess the risks to their employees and to other people affected by the work, which includes pedestrians and other road users. HSE and the DfT updated their joint guidance in September 2021 and ask employers to look at the journey, the driver or rider, and the vehicle. The guidance also asks employers to consider vehicle safety technology, such as telematics that flags excessive speed, harsh driving, distraction and drowsiness, and to consult drivers before introducing it. HSE guidance is not law, but following it is a recognised way to show you have met your duties.

What Should Health and Safety Professionals Do Next?

Two points in the data shape my advice. First, cars and vans make up just over half of the work vehicles in injury collisions (28.7% and 22.6%), so an assessment that concentrates on lorries and buses misses most of the picture. Staff using their own cars for business journeys are the easiest group to overlook. Second, most of the people killed were not travelling for work, so your controls need to reach the people your drivers meet as well as the drivers.

Here is where I would start:

1. List everyone who drives or rides for work, including occasional drivers, agency staff and people using their own cars.
2. Assess the journey, the driver or rider, and the vehicle, and record who else could be harmed.
3. Review the points where your vehicles meet pedestrians, such as urban delivery routes, depot exits and reversing areas.
4. Decide whether telematics suits your operation and talk to your drivers before you switch anything on.
5. Count your own collisions and near misses, so you do not depend on national data that cannot see half the journeys.
6. Check driver competence, from licence checks and induction through to refresher training.

Road risk rarely sits at the top of a risk register. These figures give you a clear reason to move it up.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Counts as Driving for Work?

It covers driving or riding any type of vehicle on the road to travel between work locations or to make collections and deliveries, whether regularly or occasionally. Commuting to a permanent place of work is excluded.

Does Health and Safety Law Apply to Staff Driving Their Own Vehicles?

Yes. HSE guidance applies health and safety law to work on the road in the same way as to any other work activity, so the duty follows the work and not the registration document.

Does Work-Related Driving Mean the Worker Caused the Collision?

No. The DfT figures count collisions that involve a working driver or rider. They do not say who was at fault.

Is the 29% Figure Reliable?

It is the DfT's best estimate, and the DfT expects the true figure to be higher because many journey purposes go unrecorded. Treat it as a floor, not a ceiling.

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