Unitary authority · England

Road risk in West Northamptonshire

West Northamptonshire ranks 164 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 33.3/100ONS code E06000062

Police recorded 770 injury collisions in West Northamptonshire in 2025, hurting 1,016 people, of whom 163 were killed or seriously injured and 15 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 37.5 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 53% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 770 in 2025
People hurt: 1,016 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 163
Killed: 15
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 37.5 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 140.3 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 178 (recorded: 163)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 146.1 a year (recorded: 140.3)
KSI per 100,000 residents: 36.7 — rank 85
Population: 444,218
Risk score: 33.3/100 — rank 164 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 Northamptonshire

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were up 27.5%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 770 collisions.

Collisions per year in West Northamptonshire

2025: 770 (up 2.5% on the year before) · peak 770 in 2025 · +27.5% across the period

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

Two ways of measuring

West Northamptonshire looks less dangerous per mile driven than per resident

Divide casualties by the people who live here and West Northamptonshire ranks 85. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 164 — a difference of 79 places.

That gap runs the other way: relative to the traffic its roads carry, West Northamptonshire 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.

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in West Northamptonshire

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 770 collisions in West Northamptonshire, the three groups appear 254 times between them — an involvement rate of 33%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	109	14.2%
Cyclists	49	6.4%
Motorcyclists	96	12.5%

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 Northamptonshire

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are West Northamptonshire’s own shares over 2,270 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	West Northamptonshire	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	29.6%	28.7%	close to the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	10%	6.3%	well above the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	28.1%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	2.2%	1.4%	well above the national figure

On the darkness share, West Northamptonshire ranks 61 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in West Northamptonshire run 2.2% higher from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 596 collisions against 583.

What this does not tell you

A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of West Northamptonshire’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 Northamptonshire against similar authorities

A national rank compares West Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire is 9 of 9 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 58.6.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Medway	137.6	58.5	65
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	137.1	68.6	22
Bedford	75.9	55.9	73
North Somerset	59.8	47.1	118
Stockport	58.6	37.3	153
Cheshire West and Chester	58.1	38	149
Thurrock	56.7	26.6	181
Solihull	47.7	24.5	183
West Northamptonshire (this page)	37.5	33.3	164

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 Northamptonshire against its closest comparators

West Northamptonshire sits 164 of 192 nationally, and 132 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
162	Angus	33.6	66.7
163	Flintshire	33.5	62.5
164	West Northamptonshire (this page)	33.3	37.5
165	Stockton-on-Tees	33.1	62.5
166	Newport	32.6	49.2

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in West Northamptonshire, answered

How dangerous are the roads in West Northamptonshire?

In the latest official DfT figures, 770 road collisions in West Northamptonshire injured or killed 1,016 people, 163 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 37.5 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing West Northamptonshire 164 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 Northamptonshire rising or falling?

Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in West Northamptonshire were up 27.5%, with 2025 the worst year of the period at 770 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 Northamptonshire's roads?

In West Northamptonshire there were 109 collisions involving pedestrians, 49 involving cyclists and 96 involving motorcyclists, out of 770 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 33%, 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 Northamptonshire?

West Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from West Northamptonshire’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 West Northamptonshire'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 Northamptonshire are up 28% 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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