Unitary authority · England

Road risk in West Berkshire

West Berkshire ranks 158 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 34.6/100ONS code E06000037

Police recorded 221 injury collisions in West Berkshire in 2025, hurting 280 people, of whom 70 were killed or seriously injured and 5 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 33.9 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 58% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 221 in 2025
People hurt: 280 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 70
Killed: 5
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 33.9 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 53 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 81.3 (recorded: 70)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 63.7 a year (recorded: 53)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 42.3 — rank 65
Population: 165,523
Risk score: 34.6/100 — rank 158 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 West Berkshire

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were up 14.5%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 221 collisions.

Collisions per year in West Berkshire

2025: 221 (up 7.3% on the year before) · peak 221 in 2025 · +14.5% across the period

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

Two ways of measuring

West Berkshire looks less dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and West Berkshire ranks 65. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 158 — a difference of 93 places.

That gap runs the other way: relative to the traffic its roads carry, West Berkshire does less harm than its casualty count per resident implies. Places with heavy local travel and few through routes tend to look worse per head than the volume of driving warrants. 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 West Berkshire

2.67

offences per 1,000 residents

441

offences recorded, 12 months

196

of 287 areas, worst first

West Berkshire recorded 2.67 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, below the England and Wales rate of 5.04.

Rate calculated from 441 offences and a population of 165,100 (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 West Berkshire

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 221 collisions in West Berkshire, the three groups appear 92 times between them — an involvement rate of 41.6%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	20	9.0%
Cyclists	29	13.1%
Motorcyclists	43	19.5%

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 West Berkshire

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are West Berkshire’s own shares over 611 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	West Berkshire	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	24.4%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	13.3%	6.3%	roughly double the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	27.6%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	2.1%	1.4%	well above the national figure

On the darkness share, West Berkshire ranks 169 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in West Berkshire run 0.6% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 162 collisions against 163.

What this does not tell you

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

West Berkshire against similar authorities

A national rank compares West Berkshire 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 West Berkshire is 5 of 5 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 47.7.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Cheshire East	58.4	38.2	146
Cheshire West and Chester	58.1	38	149
Solihull	47.7	24.5	183
Buckinghamshire	41.8	38.8	143
West Berkshire (this page)	33.9	34.6	158

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

West Berkshire against its closest comparators

West Berkshire sits 158 of 192 nationally, and 129 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
156	East Renfrewshire	35.8	43.8
157	Monmouthshire	35.6	51.5
158	West Berkshire (this page)	34.6	33.9
159	Perth and Kinross	34.4	51.7
160	Devon	34.2	48.1

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in West Berkshire, answered

How dangerous are the roads in West Berkshire?

In the latest official DfT figures, 221 road collisions in West Berkshire injured or killed 280 people, 70 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 33.9 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing West Berkshire 158 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 West Berkshire rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in West Berkshire were up 14.5%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 221 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 West Berkshire's roads?

In West Berkshire there were 20 collisions involving pedestrians, 29 involving cyclists and 43 involving motorcyclists, out of 221 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 41.6%, 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 West Berkshire?

West Berkshire 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 West Berkshire

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from West Berkshire’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 19% of West Berkshire'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

Collisions in West Berkshire are up 15% across the period. A dashcam with parking mode is the cheapest way to keep a disputed claim from becoming a 50/50 split.

How it works →

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