Unitary authority · England

Road risk in Bristol, City of

Bristol, City of ranks 48 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Above averageRisk score 62/100ONS code E06000023

Police recorded 753 injury collisions in Bristol, City of in 2025, hurting 844 people, of whom 205 were killed or seriously injured and 1 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 158 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 96% above the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 753 in 2025
People hurt: 844 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 205
Killed: 1
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 158 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 146.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 209 (recorded: 205)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 224.7 a year (recorded: 146.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 41.4 — rank 67
Population: 495,260
Risk score: 62/100 — rank 48 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 Bristol, City of

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 9.8%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 873 collisions.

Collisions per year in Bristol, City of

2025: 753 (down 10.5% on the year before) · peak 873 in 2022 · -9.8% across the period

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

Two ways of measuring

Bristol, City of looks more dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and Bristol, City of ranks 67. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 48 — a difference of 19 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.

Vehicle crime · year ending June 2026

Vehicle crime in Bristol, City of

9.54

offences per 1,000 residents

4,719

offences recorded, 12 months

of 287 areas, worst first

Bristol, City of recorded 9.54 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, above the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 4,719 offences and a population of 494,400 (ONS mid-2024), both taken from the same ONS release. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Office for National Statistics, Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables, year ending June 2026; police recorded crime collected by the Home Office.

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Bristol, City of

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 753 collisions in Bristol, City of, the three groups appear 478 times between them — an involvement rate of 63.5%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	145	19.3%
Cyclists	203	27.0%
Motorcyclists	130	17.3%

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 Bristol, City of

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Bristol, City of’s own shares over 2,403 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Bristol, City of	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	31.5%	28.7%	close to the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	0.9%	6.3%	a small fraction of the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	22.4%	24.5%	close to the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	0.6%	1.4%	well below the national figure

On the darkness share, Bristol, City of ranks 32 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Bristol, City of run 5.6% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 608 collisions against 644.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Bristol, City of’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

Bristol, City of against similar authorities

A national rank compares Bristol, City of 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 Bristol, City of is 3 of 8 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 115.3.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Brighton and Hove	206.5	66.7	27
Southampton	170.4	70.7	14
Bristol, City of (this page)	158	62	48
Portsmouth	119.4	67.4	26
Leeds	111.2	60.1	57
York	90.5	61.9	49
Bath and North East Somerset	77.4	60.9	53
Cardiff	26.7	27.8	176

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

Bristol, City of against its closest comparators

Bristol, City of sits 48 of 192 nationally, and 44 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
46	Waltham Forest	62.3	146.7
47	Norfolk	62.2	95
48	Bristol, City of (this page)	62	158
49	York	61.9	90.5
50	Sutton	61.9	152.8

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Bristol, City of, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Bristol, City of?

In the latest official DfT figures, 753 road collisions in Bristol, City of injured or killed 844 people, 205 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 158 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Bristol, City of 48 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 Bristol, City of rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Bristol, City of were down 9.8%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 873 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 Bristol, City of's roads?

In Bristol, City of there were 145 collisions involving pedestrians, 203 involving cyclists and 130 involving motorcyclists, out of 753 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 63.5%, 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 Bristol, City of?

Bristol, City of 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 Bristol, City of

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Bristol, City of’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

27% of collisions in Bristol, City of 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 17% of Bristol, City of'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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