Written question asked by Richard Holden (Conservative) on Tuesday, 1 September 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 September 2026. It was answered by Justin Madders (Labour) on Wednesday, 9 September 2026 on behalf of the Department for Transport.
Roads: Death
- Question
-
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) fatalities occurred in road collisions where a driver or rider was impaired by illegal drug use and (b) fatalities occurred in collisions involving a driver or rider over the legal drink-driving limit, in each of the last ten years for which data are available.
- Answer
-
The number of fatalities in personal injury road collisions, in Great Britain as reported by the police using the STATS19 system between 2016 and 2025 (the latest year for which data is available) where a driver or rider was assigned “affected by drugs” is given in the table below:
Year
Total
2016
90
2017
105
2018
85
2019
91
2020
92
2021
79
2022
97
2023
145
2024
117
2025
157
Within STATS19, the number of collisions where drivers were affected by drugs are based on road safety factor data. This includes illegal and legal drugs. It is not possible to separate them in the road safety factor data.
Since 2023, road safety factors (RSFs) have started to replace the previous system of contributory factors (CFs). As of 2025, not all police forces are recording RSFs, but instead using the older CF specification.
The change of specification has resulted in differences in the levels of reporting for some factors and as such comparisons to data from recent years should be made with caution.
The estimated number of collisions and fatalities in personal injury drink-drive collisions for Great Britain between 2015 and 2024 (the latest figures available) are given in the table below.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10:
Year
Fatalities
2015
200
2016
230
2017
250
2018
240
2019
230
2020
220
2021
260
2022
300
2023
260
2024
220
Note figures in the table are rounded to the nearest 10
Within STATS19, the number of collisions where drivers were over the legal alcohol limit are based on the results of breath tests conducted by the police at the scene of personal injury road collisions and combined with data from coroners and procurators’ fiscal on blood alcohol levels of those killed in collisions.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 26161
- Session
- 2026-27
- Subjects
- Alcoholic drinks Death Drugs Driving under influence Roads
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-09-09 16:13:50 +0100
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