Unitary authority · England

Road risk in Westmorland and Furness

Westmorland and Furness ranks 134 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.

Below averageRisk score 41.1/100ONS code E06000064

Police recorded 393 injury collisions in Westmorland and Furness in 2025, hurting 500 people, of whom 135 were killed or seriously injured and 11 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 61.8 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 23% below the median ranked authority (80.5).

Collisions: 393 in 2025
People hurt: 500 casualties
Killed or seriously injured: 135
Killed: 11
Score based on: 80% of the measure — Westmorland and Furness did not exist for the full trend period
KSI per billion vehicle miles: 61.8 (median 80.5)
KSI, three-year average: 136.7 a year
Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025: 155 (recorded: 135)
Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average: 150.7 a year (recorded: 136.7)
Risk score: 41.1/100 — rank 134 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 Westmorland and Furness

Westmorland and Furness has no comparable five-year change: it did not exist as an authority for the whole period, so there is no earlier figure to measure against. The yearly counts below are real; what is missing is the comparison, and the trend component is left out of its score rather than assumed to be flat.

Collisions per year in Westmorland and Furness

2025: 393 (up 2.6% on the year before) · peak 436 in 2023 · no full-period comparison, the series does not start above zero

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

Who is being hurt

Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Westmorland and Furness

These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 393 collisions in Westmorland and Furness, the three groups appear 180 times between them — an involvement rate of 45.8%.

Road user	Collisions	Share of all collisions
Pedestrians	73	18.6%
Cyclists	35	8.9%
Motorcyclists	72	18.3%

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 Westmorland and Furness

DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Westmorland and Furness’s own shares over 1,212 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.

Share of collisions	Westmorland and Furness	National	How it reads
In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit.	23.3%	28.7%	below the national figure
In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one.	14.7%	6.3%	more than double the national figure
On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene.	29.6%	24.5%	above the national figure
On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities.	3.2%	1.4%	more than double the national figure

On the darkness share, Westmorland and Furness ranks 180 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.

The winter effect. Collisions in Westmorland and Furness run 28.5% lower from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 268 collisions against 375.

What this does not tell you

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

Westmorland and Furness against similar authorities

A national rank compares Westmorland and Furness 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 Westmorland and Furness is 10 of 10 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 79.8.

Authority	KSI / bn miles	Score	National rank
Powys	161.2	65.7	32
Dorset	92.2	55	74
Gwynedd	85.3	52.1	91
Cumberland	82	54.5	76
North Yorkshire	77.5	53.6	82
Wiltshire	76.6	50.6	96
Northumberland	71.2	36.6	154
Somerset	67.7	34.1	161
Westmorland and Furness (this page)	61.8	41.1	134

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

Westmorland and Furness against its closest comparators

Westmorland and Furness sits 134 of 192 nationally, and 111 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.

#	Authority	Score	KSI / bn miles
132	Hampshire	41.2	62.7
133	North Northamptonshire	41.1	58
134	Westmorland and Furness (this page)	41.1	61.8
135	Scottish Borders	40.8	81.7
136	Wokingham	40.2	42.4

See all 192 authorities →

Common questions

Road risk in Westmorland and Furness, answered

How dangerous are the roads in Westmorland and Furness?

In the latest official DfT figures, 393 road collisions in Westmorland and Furness injured or killed 500 people, 135 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 61.8 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Westmorland and Furness 134 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 Westmorland and Furness rising or falling?

Westmorland and Furness has no comparable five-year trend: it did not exist for the whole period, so there is no earlier figure to measure against. Its collision counts for the years it has existed are on this page, and the trend component is excluded from its score rather than assumed to be flat.

Who is being hurt on Westmorland and Furness's roads?

In Westmorland and Furness there were 73 collisions involving pedestrians, 35 involving cyclists and 72 involving motorcyclists, out of 393 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 45.8%, 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 Westmorland and Furness?

Westmorland and Furness 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 Westmorland and Furness

Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Westmorland and Furness’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 18% of Westmorland and Furness'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 →

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