Unitary authority · England

Road risk in Cumberland

Cumberland ranks 76 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Above averageRisk score 54.5/100ONS code E06000063

Police recorded 388 injury collisions in Cumberland in 2025, hurting 480 people, of whom 115 were killed or seriously injured and 13 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 82 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 2% above the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 388 in 2025
People hurt: 480 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 115
Killed: 13
Score based on: 80% of the measure — Cumberland did not exist for the full trend period
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 82 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 119.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 126 (recorded: 115)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 130.3 a year (recorded: 119.7)
Risk score: 54.5/100 — rank 76 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 Cumberland

Cumberland has no comparable five-year change: it did not exist as an authority for the whole period, so there is no earlier figure to measure against. The yearly counts below are real; what is missing is the comparison, and the trend component is left out of its score rather than assumed to be flat.

Collisions per year in Cumberland

2025: 388 (down 5.6% on the year before) · peak 427 in 2023 · no full-period comparison, the series does not start above zero

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

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Cumberland

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 388 collisions in Cumberland, the three groups appear 163 times between them — an involvement rate of 42%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	84	21.6%
Cyclists	32	8.2%
Motorcyclists	47	12.1%

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 Cumberland

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Cumberland’s own shares over 1,226 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Cumberland	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	28.1%	28.7%	close to the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	12%	6.3%	roughly double the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	30.6%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	2.4%	1.4%	well above the national figure

On the darkness share, Cumberland ranks 88 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Cumberland run 1.6% higher from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 319 collisions against 314.

What this does not tell you

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

Cumberland against similar authorities

A national rank compares Cumberland 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 Cumberland is 4 of 10 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 70.8.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Powys	161.2	65.7	32
Carmarthenshire	123.9	63.2	42
Gwynedd	85.3	52.1	91
Cumberland (this page)	82	54.5	76
Northumberland	71.2	36.6	154
County Durham	70.3	44.5	126
South Ayrshire	66.2	47.3	115
Westmorland and Furness	61.8	41.1	134
Conwy	58.4	38.1	148

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

Cumberland against its closest comparators

Cumberland sits 76 of 192 nationally, and 67 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
74	Dorset	55	92.2
75	Wirral	54.8	107.4
76	Cumberland (this page)	54.5	82
77	South Tyneside	54.4	67.2
78	Wolverhampton	54.2	108.1

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Cumberland, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Cumberland?

In the latest official DfT figures, 388 road collisions in Cumberland injured or killed 480 people, 115 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 82 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Cumberland 76 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 Cumberland rising or falling?

Cumberland has no comparable five-year trend: it did not exist for the whole period, so there is no earlier figure to measure against. Its collision counts for the years it has existed are on this page, and the trend component is excluded from its score rather than assumed to be flat.

Who is being hurt on Cumberland's roads?

In Cumberland there were 84 collisions involving pedestrians, 32 involving cyclists and 47 involving motorcyclists, out of 388 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 42%, 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 Cumberland?

Cumberland 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 Cumberland

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Cumberland’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 12% of Cumberland'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

22% of collisions here involve a pedestrian, and those are the cases most often argued over. Footage removes the argument.

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.

Keep exploring