Reported road fatalities in Swindon increase – but why?

Road traffic accidents may be decreasing, but worryingly fatalities are on the rise.

In 2018 Swindon saw a reduction in the number of overall traffic accidents (394) down from 418 five years previously. However, fatalities almost doubled from 5 in 2017 to 9 in 2018, unlike the rest of the UK that saw an overall decrease in fatalities. Worryingly this trend seems to occur throughout the South West region as whole, with Devon encountering a staggering 30 fatalities on its roads.

As our local council continues to spend millions of pounds on new road layouts in an attempt to reduce congestion, we look at how our road accidents have changed over the years, and ask, is it the road layout causing the problems, or is it in fact distracted drivers and even pre-occupied pedestrians?

Slight injuries decreasing

Whilst it’s encouraging that the total number of slight injuries have decreased over the years down from 420 in 2016, to 327 in 2018, slight injuries can still have long-lasting effects on the individuals involved. Many people claim whiplash sustained from an accident has impacted their performance at work, and even put them under undue financial pressure.  

Councillor Maureen Penny, Swindon Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and the Environment said: “we continue to invest millions of pounds upgrading our road network for local residents”, and whilst this is undoubtedly the case, the predominant number of accidents are still happening on minor roads (239), compared with faster A roads (143). A cause for these accidents could be due to the stop/ start nature of the roads with multiple traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and roundabouts, as well as allowing for bus and cycle lanes.

Serious injuries increasing

It’s true that serious injuries have decreased significantly since 2016 (74) but reports of serious injuries increased to 58 in 2018, from 52 in 2017. Although significantly lower compared with Devon (326) and Cornwall (241), other popular tourist destinations such as Bath and North East Somerset and Bournemouth only encountered 36 and 40 serious accidents in 2018 respectively. 

As our roads become busier and congestion increases our commutes are becoming longer. This is undoubtedly having a negative impact on our mental health. We’re starting our days stressed and running late and often getting home later. Could it be that this distraction is causing more accidents, including ones that are more serious and even fatal? Professor Mark Williams, former director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, says that “mindfulness means knowing directly what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment.”  Perhaps being more mindful of our surroundings could reduce the number of serious injuries we’re seeing on our roads.

Children account for 75% of pedestrian fatalities

Since 2014, fatalities on Swindon roads has increased from 2 to 9, with pedestrian and motorcycle fatalities contributing to 1/3 each. Perhaps the most troubling is that of the 9 reported fatalities in 2018, 6 of those were children – an unprecedented number.

It’s clear that this horrifying number can’t be allowed to increase. It could be in part due to children being distracted by using their mobile phones whilst walking or listening to music whilst wearing noise cancelling headphones, but the causes of these fatalities aren’t always clear. Perhaps there needs to be more awareness for pedestrians of all ages about how to stay safe on our roads.

As figures seem to fluctuate annually it seems no one thing is contributing to accidents on our roads here in Swindon, but one constant that doesn’t seem to be decreasing is the fact that most accidents are caused by human error.