Road risk in Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton ranks 78 of 192 British highway authorities on our road risk score. Here is what the official record shows, and how it compares.
Police recorded 377 injury collisions in Wolverhampton in 2025, hurting 468 people, of whom 75 were killed or seriously injured and 5 were killed. Set against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 108.1 killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, 34% above the median ranked authority (80.5).
- Collisions
- 377 in 2025
- People hurt
- 468 casualties
- Killed or seriously injured
- 75
- Killed
- 5
- KSI per billion vehicle miles
- 108.1 (median 80.5)
- KSI, three-year average
- 74.3 a year
- Severity-adjusted KSI, 2025
- 78 (recorded: 75)
- Severity-adjusted KSI, three-year average
- 78.3 a year (recorded: 74.3)
- KSI per 100,000 residents
- 26.6 — rank 154
- Population
- 281,434
- Risk score
- 54.2/100 — rank 78 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.
Five years of collisions in Wolverhampton
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions were down 20.3%, with 2021 the worst year of the period at 473 collisions.
Collisions per year in Wolverhampton
2025: 377 (up 5.3% on the year before) · peak 473 in 2021 · -20.3% across the period
Axis clipped to the data range to show year-on-year movement.
Wolverhampton looks more dangerous per mile driven than per resident
Divide casualties by the people who live here and Wolverhampton ranks 154. Divide by the miles actually driven on its roads and it ranks 78 — a difference of 76 places.
That gap is the signature of a place that absorbs other people’s traffic. Relative to the volume its roads carry, the harm done here is worse than the resident population suggests, which is the pattern you would expect where a trunk route, a commuter corridor or a visitor economy brings in drivers who are not counted in the denominator everyone else uses. 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 Wolverhampton
7.29
offences per 1,000 residents
2,050
offences recorded, 12 months
44
of 287 areas, worst first
Wolverhampton recorded 7.29 vehicle offences per 1,000 residents, above the England and Wales rate of 5.04.
Rate calculated from 2,050 offences and a population of 281,300 (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.
Pedestrians, cyclists and riders in Wolverhampton
These are the road users with the least protection when something goes wrong, and they carry a disproportionate share of the serious injuries. Across 377 collisions in Wolverhampton, the three groups appear 179 times between them — an involvement rate of 47.5%.
| Road user | Collisions | Share of all collisions |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 124 | 32.9% |
| Cyclists | 26 | 6.9% |
| Motorcyclists | 29 | 7.7% |
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.
When collisions happen in Wolverhampton
DfT records the light level and road surface at every collision, but publishes neither below national level. These are Wolverhampton’s own shares over 1,190 collisions, with the national figure beside each one for comparison.
| Share of collisions | Wolverhampton | National | How it reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| In darknessAny collision where the officer recorded darkness, lit or unlit. | 28.4% | 28.7% | close to the national figure |
| In darkness, no street lightingThe rural lighting picture rather than the urban speeding one. | 0.8% | 6.3% | a small fraction of the national figure |
| On a wet road surfaceWet, damp or standing water at the scene. | 24.3% | 24.5% | close to the national figure |
| On snow or iceRare everywhere, and concentrated in a handful of authorities. | 1.6% | 1.4% | above the national figure |
On the darkness share, Wolverhampton ranks 82 of 192 authorities, counting from the highest.
The winter effect. Collisions in Wolverhampton run 0.3% higher from November to January than from May to July — against 4.5% lower nationally. That is 294 collisions against 293.
What this does not tell you
- A share is not a rate. A high darkness share means darkness accounts for more of Wolverhampton’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.
Wolverhampton against similar authorities
A national rank compares Wolverhampton 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 Wolverhampton is 3 of 11 on casualties per mile driven, against a group median of 101.4.
| Authority | KSI / bn miles | Score | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackburn with Darwen | 234.5 | 66.3 | 29 |
| Bradford | 216.4 | 64.2 | 37 |
| Wolverhampton (this page) | 108.1 | 54.2 | 78 |
| Oldham | 105.7 | 51.7 | 93 |
| Derby | 104 | 50.8 | 95 |
| Sandwell | 101.4 | 52.5 | 88 |
| Walsall | 80.2 | 38.1 | 147 |
| Bolton | 79.4 | 39.3 | 139 |
| Rochdale | 62.6 | 29.8 | 169 |
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.
Wolverhampton against its closest comparators
Wolverhampton sits 78 of 192 nationally, and 69 of 148 within England. These are the authorities nearest to it in the table.
| # | Authority | Score | KSI / bn miles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 76 | Cumberland | 54.5 | 82 |
| 77 | South Tyneside | 54.4 | 67.2 |
| 78 | Wolverhampton (this page) | 54.2 | 108.1 |
| 79 | Argyll and Bute | 54.2 | 102.1 |
| 80 | East Ayrshire | 53.7 | 60.9 |
Road risk in Wolverhampton, answered
How dangerous are the roads in Wolverhampton?
In the latest official DfT figures, 377 road collisions in Wolverhampton injured or killed 468 people, 75 of them killed or seriously injured. Measured against the traffic its roads actually carry, that is 108.1 people killed or seriously injured per billion vehicle miles, against a median of 80.5 across the ranked authorities — placing Wolverhampton 78 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 Wolverhampton rising or falling?
Across 2021–2025, recorded collisions in Wolverhampton were down 20.3%, with 2021 the worst year of the period at 473 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 Wolverhampton's roads?
In Wolverhampton there were 124 collisions involving pedestrians, 26 involving cyclists and 29 involving motorcyclists, out of 377 in total. Added together that is an involvement rate of 47.5%, 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 Wolverhampton?
Wolverhampton is a metropolitan 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 actually changes the odds in Wolverhampton
Data is only useful if it changes what you do. These three are picked from Wolverhampton’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.
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.
More on Wolverhampton and UK road risk
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The interactive hotspot map, down to individual junctions.
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The full sortable league table, with the method behind it.
Read more →Blackspots that were never fixed
Sites with injury collisions in every one of the last five years.
Read more →UK road risk: the national picture
What the official record says about Britain's roads overall.
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Read more →Free API
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