Unitary authority · England

Road risk in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ranks 22 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Above averageRisk score 68.6/100ONS code E06000058

Police recorded 677 injury collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in 2025, hurting 764 people, of whom 164 were killed or seriously injured and 6 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 137.1 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 70% above the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 677 in 2025
People hurt: 764 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 164
Killed: 6
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 137.1 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 133.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 177.9 (recorded: 164)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 176.1 a year (recorded: 133.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 40.4 — rank 74
Population: 405,829
Risk score: 68.6/100 — rank 22 of 192

Compiled by Stephen Hall, Data lead, Swift Assist. Source: DfT STATS19 and DfT road traffic estimates (2025), OGL v3. Updated 2026-10-08.

Direction of travel

Five years of collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were broadly flat, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 737 collisions.

Collisions per year in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

2025: 677 (down 4.2% on the year before) · peak 737 in 2022 · -0.1% across the period

Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.

Two ways of measuring

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole looks more dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ranks 74. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 22 — a difference of 52 places.

That gap is the signature of a place that absorbs other people’s traffic. Relative to the volume its roads carry, the harm done here is worse than the resident population suggests, which is the pattern you would expect where a trunk route, a commuter corridor or a visitor economy brings in drivers who are not counted in the denominator everyone else uses. Neither number is the true one. Which you should use depends on whether you are asking how safe it is to live somewhere or how safe it is to drive there.

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 677 collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, the three groups appear 424 times between them — an involvement rate of 62.6%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	122	18.0%
Cyclists	150	22.2%
Motorcyclists	152	22.5%

A single collision can involve more than one of these groups and is then counted in each row, so the rows do not add up to a share of the total.

Darkness, weather and the time of year

When collisions happen in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s own shares over 2,109 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	25.4%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	1.3%	6.3%	a small fraction of the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	19.7%	24.5%	below the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	0.5%	1.4%	a small fraction of the national figure

On the darkness share, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole ranks 152 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole run 8.5% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 527 collisions against 576.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s collisions — not that its roads are more dangerous overall. Read it alongside the casualties-per-mile-driven figure above.
Condition is recorded, not tested. The officer records the surface and light level at the scene. It is an observation, not a measurement, and it is not a finding that the condition caused the collision.
Exposure is not controlled for. Fewer people travel at 3am than at 3pm, so a collision in darkness is drawn from a smaller pool of journeys. Without hourly traffic counts, these shares describe when collisions happen rather than how risky an hour is.

Every authority compared on the same measures: winter road risk across Britain.

Benchmark

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole against similar authorities

A national rank compares Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole with places that may be nothing like it. This is the comparison a council actually uses: its statistical nearest neighbours — the authorities ONS identifies as most similar on population, economy and demography, restricted to the same tier, so counties are compared with counties. Within this group Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is 2 of 9 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 77.4.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Southend-on-Sea	200.4	82.8	1
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (this page)	137.1	68.6	22
Leeds	111.2	60.1	57
York	90.5	61.9	49
Bath and North East Somerset	77.4	60.9	53
Plymouth	73.1	49.7	99
North Somerset	59.8	47.1	118
West Northamptonshire	37.5	33.3	164
Swansea	29	26.7	180

Peer group: ONS statistical nearest neighbours, Open Government Licence v3. ONS notes the grouping is a snapshot that is not comparable with earlier editions, and is not a judgement about any authority’s performance. The road figures against it are ours.

National position

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole against its closest comparators

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole sits 22 of 192 nationally, and 22 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
20	Tower Hamlets	69.4	308.9
21	Brent	69	169.1
22	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (this page)	68.6	137.1
23	Merton	68.5	207
24	Croydon	68.2	181.7

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

In the latest official DfT figures, 677 road collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole injured or killed 764 people, 164 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 137.1 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 22 of 192 authorities on our combined score, where 1 is the highest risk. The score weighs that rate alongside who is being hurt, the five-year trend and how often a serious collision proves fatal, so the rank is not the rate alone.

Are road casualties in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole were broadly flat, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 737 collisions. Year-to-year movement in a single authority is noisy, so the five-year direction carries more than any single year's change.

Who is being hurt on Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's roads?

In Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole there were 122 collisions involving pedestrians, 150 involving cyclists and 152 involving motorcyclists, out of 677 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 62.6%, though a collision involving two of those groups is counted in both figures, so it is a comparable index rather than a clean share.

Who is responsible for road safety in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is a unitary authority, and is the highway authority for its own roads. That means it sets local speed limits, designs junctions and crossings, and decides safety scheme spending. Motorways and most trunk roads are managed separately by National Highways in England, Transport Scotland, or the Welsh Government, so the worst road in an area is often not the council's to change. Enforcement sits with the local police force.

Where does this data come from?

DfT STATS19, the record police complete at the scene of every injury collision, published annually under the Open Government Licence, combined with DfT's own road traffic estimates for the mileage denominator. Collision, casualty and KSI counts on this page are for 2025; only the trend compares 2021–2025. STATS19 counts collisions police attended and recorded, so collisions never reported do not appear, and under-reporting is known to be worst for cyclists and for slight injuries.

What this means for you

What actually changes the odds in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’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.

Helmet camera

£50–£200

22% of collisions in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole involve someone on a bike. In a disputed pull-out, footage from the rider's viewpoint is what settles liability.

How it works →

Alarmed disc lock

£20–£50

Motorcyclists are in 22% of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's collisions, and bikes are also lifted rather than ridden away. An alarmed disc lock covers the theft half for about £30.

How it works →

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