Accident hotspots in Bedford: where crashes cluster
Police recorded 224 road collisions in Bedford in 2025. We mapped every one to find the junctions and roads where they concentrate.
66.2
Road Risk Score
Bedford ranks 20 of 125 towns we score — band D, above average
50.5 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents, 364.5 vehicle crimes per 100,000, 49.6% of collisions involving someone outside a car, and a five-year trend of +13.1%. How the score works.
Vulnerable road users in Bedford (2025)
42 of Bedford's 224 collisions (19%) involved pedestrians; 43 of Bedford's 224 collisions (19%) involved cyclists; 26 of Bedford's 224 collisions (12%) involved motorcyclists. Together those collisions left 40 people killed or seriously injured.
| Road user | Collisions | Share of all collisions | Killed or seriously injured | Serious-outcome rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 42 | 19% | 16 | 38% |
| Cyclists | 43 | 19% | 13 | 30% |
| Motorcyclists | 26 | 12% | 11 | 42% |
26 of Bedford’s collisions in 2025 involved a child casualty.
Bedford’s busiest collision clusters (2025)
Each circle is a ~100m cluster of police-reported collisions. Larger circles = more collisions; red = at least one death. Click a circle for details.
The short answer
Bedford recorded 224 police-reported collisions in 2025 — falling (-3.9% on 2024), or about 209 per 100,000 residents. Its most stubborn risk is Elstow Interchange, a hotspot in 5 of the last 5 years.
224
Collisions in Bedford (2025)
279
People injured or killed
-3.9%
Change vs 2024
~242
Modelled collisions in 2026 on current trend
Bedford’s junctions that stay dangerous
These locations recorded multiple collisions in at least four of the last five years (2021–2025) — a persistent pattern, not a one-off bad year.
Elstow Interchange
A6
24 collisions across 5 hotspot years · 29 casualties · 2 serious or fatal
Prebend Street, Cauldwell
A5141
17 collisions across 4 hotspot years · 21 casualties · 5 serious or fatal
The Broadway, Harpur
A4280
11 collisions across 4 hotspot years · 12 casualties · 2 serious or fatal
Bedford’s worst accident spots
| # | Location | Road | Collisions | Casualties | Serious | Fatal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elstow Interchange | A421 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | A5141 | A5141 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | A6 | A421 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | The Embankment, Cauldwell | A600 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Ampthill Road, Cauldwell | A600 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
What to do with this: if your regular routes cross the junctions above, they deserve extra care at peak times — these aren’t random locations, they’re where collisions repeat. For context, Bedford’s rate of 209 per 100,000 residents compares with an average of 220 across the 125 areas we track. A junction with a documented five-year history is also the strongest evidence a campaign can put in front of a councillor.
Vulnerable road users in Bedford in 2025: 42 collisions involved a pedestrian, 43 a cyclist and 26 a motorcyclist — overall, 209.3 collisions per 100,000 residents.
Area definition: figures cover 6km radius of the town centre. Per-100k rates use the mid-2023 ONS population estimate for the named town or district; where the area is radius-defined, treat the rate as indicative.
These figures come from the Department for Transport’s STATS19 dataset — every collision reported to the police in 2025 — clustered to roughly 100 metres and labelled via OpenStreetMap. Only police-reported incidents are included, so minor damage-only bumps are undercounted. See the full UK hotspots analysis for the national picture and methodology.
Need this cut a different way? A junction’s full history, cyclist or pedestrian casualties on their own, or a before-and-after on a scheme: we produce those, free for community groups, campaigners and journalists.
Bedford over 5 years
Collisions per year in Bedford
2025: 224 (down 3.9% on the year before) · peak 280 in 2022 · +13.1% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
2022 was Bedford’s worst year of the period with 280 collisions, against 198 in 2021. Of 2025’s 279 casualties, 54 were killed or seriously injured (3 deaths, 51 serious).
Build the Bedford story from this page
Every line below is computed from the official DfT STATS19 dataset and updates when new data is released — copy, check, publish. Free to use with a link to this page as the source.
- “Police recorded 224 road collisions in Bedford in 2025, injuring or killing 279 people (DfT STATS19).
- “2022 was Bedford's worst year of the last 5 (280 collisions, against 198 in 2021).
- “Bedford's collision rate is 209 per 100,000 residents, against an average of 220 across the 125 areas we track.
- “42 collisions involved pedestrians, 43 collisions involved cyclists, 26 collisions involved motorcyclists — with 40 of those people killed or seriously injured.
- “26 collisions in Bedford involved a child casualty in 2025.
Attribution: “Analysis by Swift Assist (swiftassistuk.co.uk) of DfT STATS19 data” with a link to this page. Methodology: how we process the data.
How Bedford compares nationally
Bedford is the highway authority for these roads, which means the same body counted in the national comparison below is the one that maintains them.
Per mile driven
73 of 192
Per resident
99 of 188
Risk band
Above average
Five-year trend
up 11.4%
Those two numbers disagree, and that is the story. Bedford sits 99 of 188 measured per resident but 73 of 192 measured per mile actually driven — a gap of 26 places. Almost every published comparison quietly uses the per-head measure, which flatters places that carry a lot of through-traffic. On the measure that accounts for how much driving actually happens here, the record is worse than the usual figure suggests.
The full record for Bedford — severity-adjusted casualties, the breakdown of who is being hurt, the darkness and ice profile, and a comparison against its ONS statistical neighbours rather than the national average — is on its own page.
Bedford’s full road risk record →What actually changes the odds in Bedford
Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Bedford’s own figures above, each with the number that prompted it. Every guide explains how the thing works before it suggests buying anything, and most cost less than a third of a typical insurance excess.
Faraday key pouch / box
£9–£25
Bedford records 365 vehicle crimes per 100,000 residents, above the median of the towns we track. Keyless relay theft is the leading route into modern cars, and a signal-blocking pouch ends that method outright for under a tenner.
How it works →
Helmet camera
£50–£200
19% of collisions in Bedford involve someone on a bike. In a disputed pull-out, footage from the rider's viewpoint is what settles liability.
How it works →
Steering wheel lock
£40–£70
Vehicle theft is target selection: thieves work a street and take the easiest car. A visible attack-rated bar moves your car down that list before anyone touches it.
How it works →
We are a data business, not a retailer: these link to our guides, which link on to retailers. Some of those links earn us a small commission at no cost to you, and we hold no stock and take no payment for placement. All security guides.
Related on Swift Assist
UK accident hotspots (national)
Britain's 20 worst collision clusters, mapped from official data.
Read more →Cyclist collision map (national)
Where cyclists are hurt across Britain, from the same records.
Read more →Free data for campaigners
Junction histories, corridor studies and custom cuts, free for community groups.
Read more →Need this data for your own work?
Site and junction reports from £95, next working day. Free for community groups, campaigners and journalists.