Accident hotspots in Reading: where crashes cluster
Police recorded 328 road collisions in Reading in 2025. We mapped every one to find the junctions and roads where they concentrate.
54.7
Road Risk Score
Reading ranks 51 of 125 towns we score — band C, around average
32.8 people killed or seriously injured per 100,000 residents, 252.9 vehicle crimes per 100,000, 67.7% of collisions involving someone outside a car, and a five-year trend of +8.3%. How the score works.
Vulnerable road users in Reading (2025)
71 of Reading's 328 collisions (22%) involved pedestrians; 84 of Reading's 328 collisions (26%) involved cyclists; 67 of Reading's 328 collisions (20%) involved motorcyclists. Together those collisions left 47 people killed or seriously injured.
| Road user | Collisions | Share of all collisions | Killed or seriously injured | Serious-outcome rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 71 | 22% | 26 | 37% |
| Cyclists | 84 | 26% | 9 | 11% |
| Motorcyclists | 67 | 20% | 12 | 18% |
26 of Reading’s collisions in 2025 involved a child casualty.
Reading’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
Reading recorded 328 police-reported collisions in 2025 — broadly flat year-on-year, or about 189 per 100,000 residents. Its most stubborn risk is Oxford Road cyclepath, Dee Park, a hotspot in 5 of the last 5 years.
328
Collisions in Reading (2025)
377
People injured or killed
-1.5%
Change vs 2024
~335
Modelled collisions in 2026 on current trend
Reading’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.
Oxford Road cyclepath, Dee Park
A329
14 collisions across 5 hotspot years · 14 casualties · 1 serious or fatal
King's Road, Newtown
A329
12 collisions across 4 hotspot years · 16 casualties · 5 serious or fatal
Reading’s worst accident spots
| # | Location | Road | Collisions | Casualties | Serious | Fatal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vastern Road, Caversham | A329 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Oxford Road, Coley | Local road | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | St Mary's Butts, Coley | Local road | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | Eldon Square, Newtown | A4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Howth Drive, Woodley | A329 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 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, Reading’s rate of 189 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 Reading in 2025: 71 collisions involved a pedestrian, 84 a cyclist and 67 a motorcyclist — overall, 188.5 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.
Reading over 5 years
Collisions per year in Reading
2025: 328 (down 1.5% on the year before) · peak 401 in 2022 · +8.3% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
2022 was Reading’s worst year of the period with 401 collisions, against 303 in 2021. Of 2025’s 377 casualties, 57 were killed or seriously injured (4 deaths, 53 serious).
Build the Reading 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 328 road collisions in Reading in 2025, injuring or killing 377 people (DfT STATS19).
- “2022 was Reading's worst year of the last 5 (401 collisions, against 303 in 2021).
- “Reading's collision rate is 189 per 100,000 residents, against an average of 220 across the 125 areas we track.
- “71 collisions involved pedestrians, 84 collisions involved cyclists, 67 collisions involved motorcyclists — with 47 of those people killed or seriously injured.
- “26 collisions in Reading 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 Reading compares nationally
Reading 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
4 of 192
Per resident
163 of 188
Risk band
Highest risk
Five-year trend
up 6.8%
Those two numbers disagree, and that is the story. Reading sits 163 of 188 measured per resident but 4 of 192 measured per mile actually driven — a gap of 159 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 Reading — 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.
Reading’s full road risk record →What actually changes the odds in Reading
Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Reading’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
Reading records 253 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
26% of collisions in Reading 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.