Scottish council · Scotland

Road risk in City of Edinburgh

City of Edinburgh ranks 101 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 49.1/100ONS code S12000036

Police recorded 469 injury collisions in City of Edinburgh in 2025, hurting 593 people, of whom 149 were killed or seriously injured and 4 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 76.6 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 5% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 469 in 2025
People hurt: 593 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 149
Killed: 4
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 76.6 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 143 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 153 (recorded: 149)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 148.3 a year (recorded: 143)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 28 — rank 143
Population: 531,370
Risk score: 49.1/100 — rank 101 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 City of Edinburgh

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 2.7%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 507 collisions.

Collisions per year in City of Edinburgh

2025: 469 (down 2.5% on the year before) · peak 507 in 2022 · -2.7% across the period

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

Two ways of measuring

City of Edinburgh looks more dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and City of Edinburgh ranks 143. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 101 — a difference of 42 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 City of Edinburgh

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 469 collisions in City of Edinburgh, the three groups appear 275 times between them — an involvement rate of 58.6%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	123	26.2%
Cyclists	106	22.6%
Motorcyclists	46	9.8%

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 City of Edinburgh

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are City of Edinburgh’s own shares over 1,400 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	City of Edinburgh	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	27%	28.7%	close to the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	3%	6.3%	well below 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.	1%	1.4%	below the national figure

On the darkness share, City of Edinburgh ranks 117 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in City of Edinburgh run 0.8% higher from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 361 collisions against 358.

What this does not tell you

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

City of Edinburgh against similar authorities

A national rank compares City of Edinburgh 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 City of Edinburgh is 9 of 11 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 90.5.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Lambeth	420.9	66.3	28
Brighton and Hove	206.5	66.7	27
Bristol, City of	158	62	48
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	137.1	68.6	22
York	90.5	61.9	49
North Yorkshire	77.5	53.6	82
Bath and North East Somerset	77.4	60.9	53
City of Edinburgh (this page)	76.6	49.1	101
Cornwall	65.8	39.2	140

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

City of Edinburgh against its closest comparators

City of Edinburgh sits 101 of 192 nationally, and 8 of 26 within Scotland. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
99	Plymouth	49.7	73.1
100	Surrey	49.4	84.8
101	City of Edinburgh (this page)	49.1	76.6
102	North Ayrshire	49.1	88.2
103	Coventry	48.8	75.8

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in City of Edinburgh, answered

How dangerous are the roads in City of Edinburgh?

In the latest official DfT figures, 469 road collisions in City of Edinburgh injured or killed 593 people, 149 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 76.6 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing City of Edinburgh 101 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 City of Edinburgh rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in City of Edinburgh were down 2.7%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 507 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 City of Edinburgh's roads?

In City of Edinburgh there were 123 collisions involving pedestrians, 106 involving cyclists and 46 involving motorcyclists, out of 469 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 58.6%, 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 City of Edinburgh?

City of Edinburgh is a scottish council, 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 City of Edinburgh

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

23% of collisions in City of Edinburgh involve someone on a bike. In a disputed pull-out, footage from the rider's viewpoint is what settles liability.

How it works →

Dashcam (parking mode)

£50–£150

26% of collisions here involve a pedestrian, and those are the cases most often argued over. Footage removes the argument.

How it works →

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