London borough · England

Road risk in Richmond upon Thames

Richmond upon Thames ranks 16 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Highest riskRisk score 70.3/100ONS code E09000027

Police recorded 355 injury collisions in Richmond upon Thames in 2025, hurting 394 people, of whom 106 were killed or seriously injured and 2 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 206.1 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 156% above the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 355 in 2025
People hurt: 394 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 106
Killed: 2
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 206.1 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 101.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 113 (recorded: 106)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 106 a year (recorded: 101.7)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 53.9 — rank 19
Population: 196,713
Risk score: 70.3/100 — rank 16 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 Richmond upon Thames

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 4.3%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 401 collisions.

Collisions per year in Richmond upon Thames

2025: 355 (up 4.7% on the year before) · peak 401 in 2022 · -4.3% across the period

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

Vehicle crime · year ending June 2026

Vehicle crime in Richmond upon Thames

7.70

offences per 1,000 residents

1,515

offences recorded, 12 months

of 287 areas, worst first

Richmond upon Thames recorded 7.70 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, above the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 1,515 offences and a population of 196,700 (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 Richmond upon Thames

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 355 collisions in Richmond upon Thames, the three groups appear 268 times between them — an involvement rate of 75.5%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	63	17.7%
Cyclists	134	37.7%
Motorcyclists	71	20.0%

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 Richmond upon Thames

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Richmond upon Thames’s own shares over 1,069 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Richmond upon Thames	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	23.5%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	0.9%	6.3%	a small fraction of the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	18%	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, Richmond upon Thames ranks 178 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Richmond upon Thames run 25.6% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 235 collisions against 316.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Richmond upon Thames’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

Richmond upon Thames against similar authorities

A national rank compares Richmond upon Thames 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 Richmond upon Thames is 3 of 8 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 137.8.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Hammersmith and Fulham	364.6	67.9	25
Merton	207	68.5	23
Richmond upon Thames (this page)	206.1	70.3	16
Sutton	152.8	61.9	50
Bromley	122.8	59.9	60
Kingston upon Thames	101.8	49.8	98
Trafford	58.7	38.6	144
Windsor and Maidenhead	38.9	28.8	171

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

Richmond upon Thames against its closest comparators

Richmond upon Thames sits 16 of 192 nationally, and 16 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
14	Southampton	70.7	170.4
15	Manchester	70.3	141
16	Richmond upon Thames (this page)	70.3	206.1
17	Leicester	70	121.3
18	Isle of Wight	69.8	178.9

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Richmond upon Thames, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Richmond upon Thames?

In the latest official DfT figures, 355 road collisions in Richmond upon Thames injured or killed 394 people, 106 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 206.1 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Richmond upon Thames 16 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 Richmond upon Thames rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Richmond upon Thames were down 4.3%, with 2022 the worst year of the period at 401 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 Richmond upon Thames's roads?

In Richmond upon Thames there were 63 collisions involving pedestrians, 134 involving cyclists and 71 involving motorcyclists, out of 355 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 75.5%, 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 Richmond upon Thames?

Richmond upon Thames is a london 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 Richmond upon Thames

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

38% of collisions in Richmond upon Thames involve someone on a bike. In a disputed pull-out, footage from the rider's viewpoint is what settles liability.

How it works →

Alarmed disc lock

£20–£50

Motorcyclists are in 20% of Richmond upon Thames'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 →

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