Metropolitan borough · England

Road risk in Calderdale

Calderdale ranks 34 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Above averageRisk score 65/100ONS code E08000033

Police recorded 357 injury collisions in Calderdale in 2025, hurting 463 people, of whom 99 were killed or seriously injured and 7 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 131.8 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 64% above the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 357 in 2025
People hurt: 463 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 99
Killed: 7
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 131.8 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 112.3 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 115 (recorded: 99)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 129.3 a year (recorded: 112.3)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 47 — rank 38
Population: 210,734
Risk score: 65/100 — rank 34 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 Calderdale

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were up 12.3%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 403 collisions.

Collisions per year in Calderdale

2025: 357 (down 4.3% on the year before) · peak 403 in 2022 · +12.3% across the period

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

Vehicle crime · year ending June 2026

Vehicle crime in Calderdale

5.32

offences per 1,000 residents

1,123

offences recorded, 12 months

of 287 areas, worst first

Calderdale recorded 5.32 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, above the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 1,123 offences and a population of 210,900 (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 Calderdale

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 357 collisions in Calderdale, the three groups appear 144 times between them — an involvement rate of 40.3%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	85	23.8%
Cyclists	23	6.4%
Motorcyclists	36	10.1%

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 Calderdale

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Calderdale’s own shares over 1,087 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Calderdale	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	32.5%	28.7%	above the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	3.5%	6.3%	well below the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	30.1%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	2.5%	1.4%	well above the national figure

On the darkness share, Calderdale ranks 21 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Calderdale run 0.7% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 273 collisions against 275.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Calderdale’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

Calderdale against similar authorities

A national rank compares Calderdale 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 Calderdale is 1 of 9 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 104.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Calderdale (this page)	131.8	65	34
Carmarthenshire	123.9	63.2	42
Kirklees	122.5	56.5	69
Wirral	107.4	54.8	75
Derby	104	50.8	95
Tameside	88	60.3	56
Stoke-on-Trent	75.9	63.4	40
Gateshead	54.3	24	184
Bury	51.8	22.6	187

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

Calderdale against its closest comparators

Calderdale sits 34 of 192 nationally, and 33 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
32	Powys	65.7	161.2
33	Sefton	65.5	137
34	Calderdale (this page)	65	131.8
35	Wandsworth	64.6	340.3
36	St. Helens	64.6	87.1

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Calderdale, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Calderdale?

In the latest official DfT figures, 357 road collisions in Calderdale injured or killed 463 people, 99 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 131.8 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Calderdale 34 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 Calderdale rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Calderdale were up 12.3%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 403 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 Calderdale's roads?

In Calderdale there were 85 collisions involving pedestrians, 23 involving cyclists and 36 involving motorcyclists, out of 357 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 40.3%, 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 Calderdale?

Calderdale is a metropolitan borough, 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 Calderdale

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Calderdale’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.

Alarmed disc lock

£20–£50

Motorcyclists are in 10% of Calderdale'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 →

Dashcam (parking mode)

£50–£150

Collisions in Calderdale are up 12% across the period. A dashcam with parking mode is the cheapest way to keep a disputed claim from becoming a 50/50 split.

How it works →

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