Unitary authority · England

Road risk in Redcar and Cleveland

Redcar and Cleveland ranks 175 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Lowest riskRisk score 28/100ONS code E06000003

Police recorded 108 injury collisions in Redcar and Cleveland in 2025, hurting 140 people, of whom 33 were killed or seriously injured and 1 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 62 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 23% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 108 in 2025
People hurt: 140 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 33
Killed: 1
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 62 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 32.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 34 (recorded: 33)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 38.6 a year (recorded: 32.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 23.6 — rank 169
Population: 139,541
Risk score: 28/100 — rank 175 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 Redcar and Cleveland

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 19.4%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 135 collisions.

Collisions per year in Redcar and Cleveland

2025: 108 (down 4.4% on the year before) · peak 135 in 2022 · -19.4% across the period

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

Vehicle crime · year ending June 2026

Vehicle crime in Redcar and Cleveland

4.17

offences per 1,000 residents

581

offences recorded, 12 months

121

of 287 areas, worst first

Redcar and Cleveland recorded 4.17 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, below the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 581 offences and a population of 139,200 (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 Redcar and Cleveland

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 108 collisions in Redcar and Cleveland, the three groups appear 49 times between them — an involvement rate of 45.4%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	23	21.3%
Cyclists	12	11.1%
Motorcyclists	14	13.0%

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 Redcar and Cleveland

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Redcar and Cleveland’s own shares over 349 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Redcar and Cleveland	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	22.3%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	4.6%	6.3%	below the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	17.8%	24.5%	below the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	1.1%	1.4%	below the national figure

On the darkness share, Redcar and Cleveland ranks 187 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Redcar and Cleveland run 37.4% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 72 collisions against 115.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Redcar and Cleveland’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

Redcar and Cleveland against similar authorities

A national rank compares Redcar and Cleveland 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 Redcar and Cleveland is 8 of 9 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 88.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Wirral	107.4	54.8	75
Wakefield	103.4	60.8	54
Rotherham	93.7	56	72
Dudley	92.5	47.2	116
Tameside	88	60.3	56
Stoke-on-Trent	75.9	63.4	40
South Tyneside	67.2	54.4	77
Redcar and Cleveland (this page)	62	28	175
Gateshead	54.3	24	184

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

Redcar and Cleveland against its closest comparators

Redcar and Cleveland sits 175 of 192 nationally, and 140 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
173	Hertfordshire	28.3	51.1
174	West Lothian	28.2	53
175	Redcar and Cleveland (this page)	28	62
176	Cardiff	27.8	26.7
177	Aberdeenshire	27.7	55.8

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Redcar and Cleveland, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Redcar and Cleveland?

In the latest official DfT figures, 108 road collisions in Redcar and Cleveland injured or killed 140 people, 33 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 62 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Redcar and Cleveland 175 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 Redcar and Cleveland rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Redcar and Cleveland were down 19.4%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 135 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 Redcar and Cleveland's roads?

In Redcar and Cleveland there were 23 collisions involving pedestrians, 12 involving cyclists and 14 involving motorcyclists, out of 108 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 45.4%, 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 Redcar and Cleveland?

Redcar and Cleveland 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 Redcar and Cleveland

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Redcar and Cleveland’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 13% of Redcar and Cleveland'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

21% 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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