Metropolitan borough · England

Road risk in North Tyneside

North Tyneside ranks 104 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 48.6/100ONS code E08000022

Police recorded 210 injury collisions in North Tyneside in 2025, hurting 242 people, of whom 47 were killed or seriously injured and 4 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 60.8 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 24% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 210 in 2025
People hurt: 242 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 47
Killed: 4
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 60.8 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 50.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 49 (recorded: 47)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 53.3 a year (recorded: 50.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 21.8 — rank 175
Population: 215,401
Risk score: 48.6/100 — rank 104 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 North Tyneside

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were up 7.1%, with 2023 the worst year of the period at 251 collisions.

Collisions per year in North Tyneside

2025: 210 (down 7.9% on the year before) · peak 251 in 2023 · +7.1% across the period

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

Two ways of measuring

North Tyneside looks more dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and North Tyneside ranks 175. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 104 — a difference of 71 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 North Tyneside

3.90

offences per 1,000 residents

838

offences recorded, 12 months

132

of 287 areas, worst first

North Tyneside recorded 3.90 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, below the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 838 offences and a population of 215,000 (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 North Tyneside

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 210 collisions in North Tyneside, the three groups appear 104 times between them — an involvement rate of 49.5%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	46	21.9%
Cyclists	40	19.0%
Motorcyclists	18	8.6%

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 North Tyneside

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are North Tyneside’s own shares over 689 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	North Tyneside	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	21.6%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	2.9%	6.3%	well below the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	22.8%	24.5%	close to the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	1.7%	1.4%	above the national figure

On the darkness share, North Tyneside ranks 189 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in North Tyneside run 10.8% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 173 collisions against 194.

What this does not tell you

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

North Tyneside against similar authorities

A national rank compares North Tyneside 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 North Tyneside is 5 of 9 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 60.8.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Wirral	107.4	54.8	75
Wakefield	103.4	60.8	54
Darlington	79.2	52.2	89
Halton	61.2	30.9	167
North Tyneside (this page)	60.8	48.6	104
Stockport	58.6	37.3	153
Gateshead	54.3	24	184
Newport	49.2	32.6	166
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

North Tyneside against its closest comparators

North Tyneside sits 104 of 192 nationally, and 88 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
102	North Ayrshire	49.1	88.2
103	Coventry	48.8	75.8
104	North Tyneside (this page)	48.6	60.8
105	Knowsley	48.6	49.6
106	East Riding of Yorkshire	48.5	75.8

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in North Tyneside, answered

How dangerous are the roads in North Tyneside?

In the latest official DfT figures, 210 road collisions in North Tyneside injured or killed 242 people, 47 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 60.8 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing North Tyneside 104 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 North Tyneside rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in North Tyneside were up 7.1%, with 2023 the worst year of the period at 251 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 North Tyneside's roads?

In North Tyneside there were 46 collisions involving pedestrians, 40 involving cyclists and 18 involving motorcyclists, out of 210 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 49.5%, 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 North Tyneside?

North Tyneside 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 North Tyneside

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

19% of collisions in North Tyneside 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

22% 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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