PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(1 September 2026)

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.

Asked by:
Mr Richard Holden (Conservative)

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.

Answered by:
()