Birmingham's serious collisions, ward by ward
2,331 people were killed or seriously injured on Birmingham's roads over 2021–2025, 109 of them fatally. We mapped all 2,129 collisions to their council ward. Half of them happened in just 19 of the city's 69 wards.
The short answer
Serious road injury in Birmingham is concentrated, not spread. Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East alone recorded 93 serious or fatal collisions in five years, more than the ten safest wards put together (80). Collisions track the road network rather than population: the A4040, A38 and A41 run through most of the worst-affected wards. And the direction of travel is wrong, with the city total up 21% since 2021.
Every figure here comes from the Department for Transport’s STATS19 records, the police record of injury collisions, point-matched to current ONS ward boundaries. Slight-injury collisions are excluded: this counts people killed or seriously injured (KSI). Full method.
Serious and fatal collisions by ward, 2021–2025
Darker means more people hurt. Click any ward for its numbers, and zoom in to see every individual serious (blue) and fatal (red) collision inside the ward boundary, so you can point at the exact junctions and corridors.
Five findings from 2,129 serious collisions
1. Half the city’s serious injuries happen in a quarter of its wards
19 of Birmingham’s 69 wards account for half of every serious and fatal collision in the city. The five worst (Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East, Ladywood, Nechells, Soho & Jewellery Quarter, Bordesley & Highgate) carry 423 between them, which is 20% of the total from 7% of the wards. At the other end, the 34 wards making up the safer half record 545 between them.
2. The trend is going the wrong way
Serious and fatal collisions rose from 362 in 2021 to 439 in 2025, a change of +21% across the period, peaking at 481 in 2024. Traffic volumes recovering after 2021 explain part of any rise, but not all of it on roads whose layout has not changed.
Serious and fatal collisions across Birmingham, per year
2025: 439 (down 8.7% on the year before) · peak 481 in 2024 · +21.3% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
3. One road runs through the problem: the A4040
Counting every ward it passes through, the A4040 accounts for 125 serious and fatal collisions across 22 separate wards. A corridor-wide approach would reach more people than any single junction scheme.
Counts the first road recorded on each collision, so collisions on unclassified roads are absent from this table but included in ward totals.
4. Volume and lethality are different problems
Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East records the most serious collisions in Birmingham (93), but Sutton Walmley & Minworth is where a collision is most likely to kill: 4 of its 22 serious collisions were fatal, a rate of 18%, against a city average of 5%. 21 wards recorded no fatal collision at all in five years. Speed is usually what separates the two groups: outer wards see fewer collisions, at higher speeds, with worse outcomes.
5. Some wards are moving fast, in both directions
Comparing 2021 with 2025 for wards with a meaningful base, the swings are large enough to be worth asking about before they harden into a trend.
Rising fastest
- North Edgbaston5 → 11 (+120%)
- Bordesley & Highgate10 → 19 (+90%)
- Edgbaston9 → 16 (+78%)
- Glebe Farm & Tile Cross9 → 16 (+78%)
- Perry Barr6 → 10 (+67%)
Falling fastest
- South Yardley5 → 1 (-80%)
- Garretts Green5 → 1 (-80%)
- Sheldon6 → 2 (-67%)
- Allens Cross5 → 2 (-60%)
- Sutton Vesey9 → 4 (-56%)
Wards with fewer than five collisions in 2021 are excluded: percentage swings on tiny numbers are noise, not signal.
Looking at one part of the city?
These group neighbouring wards and do the work the table above leaves to you: rates per 1,000 residents, and roads totalled across ward boundaries so a route running through several wards is not hidden by being a small number in each.
Every ward, ranked
| # | Ward | KSI collisions | People KSI | Fatal | Main roads involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East | 93 | 102 | 4 | A41 (35), A4540 (18), B4126 (3) |
| 2 | Ladywood | 89 | 92 | — | B4127 (19), A4540 (17), A38 (6) |
| 3 | Nechells | 82 | 101 | 7 | A47 (17), B4132 (11), A4540 (7) |
| 4 | Soho & Jewellery Quarter | 82 | 88 | 4 | A41 (11), B4100 (9), A457 (7) |
| 5 | Bordesley & Highgate | 77 | 81 | 5 | B4100 (19), A4540 (11), A38 (3) |
| 6 | Edgbaston | 66 | 70 | 5 | A38 (12), A456 (11), A441 (5) |
| 7 | Bordesley Green | 60 | 64 | — | B4128 (14), B4145 (11), A45 (4) |
| 8 | Glebe Farm & Tile Cross | 52 | 65 | 4 | A4040 (3) |
| 9 | Aston | 51 | 59 | 3 | A4040 (8), B4140 (6), A38 (5) |
| 10 | Gravelly Hill | 47 | 55 | 1 | A38 (18), A5127 (13), A4040 (4) |
| 11 | Newtown | 45 | 51 | 3 | A4540 (7), A34 (6), B4100 (5) |
| 12 | Brandwood & King's Heath | 45 | 50 | 2 | A435 (17), A4040 (5), B4122 (4) |
| 13 | Hall Green North | 44 | 49 | 2 | A34 (17), B4146 (4), B4217 (3) |
| 14 | North Edgbaston | 44 | 52 | 2 | A4040 (12), A457 (8), B4125 (4) |
| 15 | Perry Barr | 42 | 44 | 2 | A34 (15), A453 (7), M6 (4) |
| 16 | Moseley | 41 | 41 | 2 | A435 (9), B4217 (6), B4146 (2) |
| 17 | Acocks Green | 40 | 44 | 5 | B4514 (7), A41 (7), A4040 (7) |
| 18 | Ward End | 39 | 46 | 3 | B4114 (17), A4040 (7), A47 (1) |
| 19 | Stockland Green | 38 | 40 | 1 | A4040 (9), B4531 (4), M6 (1) |
| 20 | Longbridge & West Heath | 38 | 40 | 2 | B4096 (6), B4120 (5), A441 (3) |
| 21 | Erdington | 37 | 37 | 1 | A5127 (16), B4531 (2), A452 (2) |
| 22 | Balsall Heath West | 36 | 41 | 2 | A435 (5), A441 (4), A4540 (4) |
| 23 | Kingstanding | 36 | 41 | — | A453 (7), B4138 (6), B4149 (4) |
| 24 | Harborne | 33 | 35 | 3 | A4040 (7), B4124 (6), A456 (4) |
| 25 | Alum Rock | 33 | 36 | 2 | B4114 (6), B4145 (4), B4516 (4) |
| 26 | Sparkhill | 33 | 35 | — | A34 (13), B4217 (2), B4145 (2) |
| 27 | Bournville & Cotteridge | 32 | 33 | 3 | A38 (9), A4040 (7), A441 (3) |
| 28 | Bartley Green | 31 | 33 | 1 | B4121 (3) |
| 29 | Tyseley & Hay Mills | 31 | 40 | 4 | B4146 (6), A45 (5), B4514 (3) |
| 30 | Small Heath | 30 | 31 | 3 | A45 (1), B4145 (1) |
| 31 | Bromford & Hodge Hill | 29 | 32 | 1 | A4040 (9), B4147 (4), B4114 (3) |
| 32 | Bournbrook & Selly Park | 28 | 28 | 1 | A441 (11), B384 (7), A38 (1) |
| 33 | Lozells | 27 | 31 | — | B4144 (12), A41 (5), A34 (3) |
| 34 | Sutton Vesey | 27 | 28 | 3 | B4149 (4), B4142 (4), A452 (4) |
| 35 | Handsworth | 26 | 32 | 2 | A4040 (8), A41 (4), B4124 (1) |
| 36 | Sheldon | 26 | 26 | 4 | A45 (13) |
| 37 | Weoley & Selly Oak | 26 | 29 | — | A38 (9), A4040 (1), B4121 (1) |
| 38 | Holyhead | 24 | 26 | 1 | A41 (9), A4040 (5) |
| 39 | Yardley West & Stechford | 23 | 25 | 1 | A4040 (8), B4128 (7) |
| 40 | Pype Hayes | 23 | 27 | 1 | A4040 (4), A38 (4), A452 (3) |
| 41 | Northfield | 23 | 26 | 1 | A38 (8), B4121 (4) |
| 42 | Oscott | 23 | 23 | 2 | B4138 (4), B4149 (2), A4041 (1) |
| 43 | Sutton Walmley & Minworth | 22 | 27 | 4 | A4097 (4), A38 (3), M6 (1) |
| 44 | Allens Cross | 22 | 23 | 2 | B4121 (3), A38 (2) |
| 45 | Heartlands | 22 | 22 | 1 | B4128 (13) |
| 46 | Yardley East | 20 | 20 | 1 | A4040 (6) |
| 47 | King's Norton North | 20 | 22 | — | A441 (5) |
| 48 | Quinton | 20 | 20 | — | A456 (6), A409 (1), A4040 (1) |
| 49 | South Yardley | 19 | 22 | 1 | A45 (8), A4040 (7) |
| 50 | Birchfield | 19 | 21 | 1 | A34 (4), B4124 (3), B4144 (2) |
| 51 | Billesley | 18 | 18 | — | B4146 (2), A4040 (2), A435 (1) |
| 52 | Handsworth Wood | 17 | 18 | 1 | B4124 (7), A4040 (4) |
| 53 | Perry Common | 16 | 17 | 1 | A453 (5) |
| 54 | Garretts Green | 15 | 15 | — | — |
| 55 | Sutton Trinity | 14 | 17 | 1 | A5127 (2) |
| 56 | Sutton Wylde Green | 14 | 15 | — | A5127 (8), B4148 (2) |
| 57 | Frankley Great Park | 14 | 14 | 1 | — |
| 58 | Rubery & Rednal | 13 | 13 | — | B4120 (3), A38 (2) |
| 59 | Shard End | 12 | 13 | — | — |
| 60 | Stirchley | 11 | 11 | — | A441 (3), A4040 (1) |
| 61 | Castle Vale | 11 | 11 | — | A38 (3), A452 (1) |
| 62 | Highter's Heath | 10 | 10 | 1 | A435 (2) |
| 63 | Hall Green South | 9 | 10 | — | A34 (4) |
| 64 | Sutton Mere Green | 9 | 9 | — | A5127 (4) |
| 65 | King's Norton South | 9 | 10 | — | A441 (2) |
| 66 | Sutton Reddicap | 9 | 10 | 1 | B4148 (2) |
| 67 | Sutton Four Oaks | 7 | 9 | — | A454 (2), A5127 (2), B4151 (1) |
| 68 | Sutton Roughley | 4 | 4 | — | A453 (1), B4151 (1), B4148 (1) |
| 69 | Druids Heath & Monyhull | 1 | 1 | — | — |
Taking this to your ward councillor
These are the same records councils and road safety teams work from. Cite as “Analysis by Swift Assist (swiftassistuk.co.uk) of DfT STATS19 data, 2021–2025” with a link to this page. The CSV above carries every ward’s numbers for a briefing note.
Lines you can quote directly
- “2,331 people were killed or seriously injured on Birmingham's roads between 2021 and 2025, in 2,129 collisions recorded by police.
- “Half of those collisions happened in 19 of the city's 69 wards.
- “Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East is the worst-affected ward, with 93 serious or fatal collisions and 102 people hurt.
- “The A4040 accounts for 125 serious and fatal collisions across 22 wards, more than any other road in the city.
Need something more specific — a single junction’s history, pedestrian or cyclist casualties only, a printable one-pager for a ward meeting? Email the data desk. Ward-level requests from community groups are free.
Method: fatal and serious collisions (2021–2025) point-matched to ward polygons; casualty counts from the DfT casualty file. Collisions without valid coordinates excluded. Full methodology.
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