February 22, 2022 12.07 pm This story is over 25 months old

Roads expert dismisses data which puts Lincolnshire drivers among UK’s most dangerous

Lincolnshire was among the top 10 for crashes per 100k people
John Siddle from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (left), and PCSO Dave Bunker (right). | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
By Local Democracy Reporter

Lincolnshire has been placed among the top 10 areas in the UK for vehicle crashes, relative to population, but a local roads expert has claimed the data is skewed and the rural nature of our transport links are to blame.

Online learner driver resource Zutobi has analysed data from the Department of Transport to compile a list of areas which witness the most road traffic accidents compared to population in 2020.

Hull leads the way nationally with a rate of 232.1 accidents per 100,000 people, and Lincolnshire is in seventh place with 1,396 reported accidents and a population of 761,224, equating to a proportion of 183.4 accidents per 100,000 people.

In addition, North East Lincolnshire is fourth, with 191.1, and North Lincolnshire is tenth, with 177.6, meaning all three of the wider county’s areas feature in the top ten of the country.

Nationally, in 2020 there were 37,574 fewer people injured in crashes than there were in 2019, with coronavirus lockdowns resulting in fewer people on the roads.

The data by Zutobi is presented as a list of “The UK’s Most Dangerous Drivers”, but a roads expert for Lincolnshire has said the county’s high ranking on this list does not mean we have dangerous drivers.

John Siddle from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership said that the data does not give an accurate reflection of drivers in Lincolnshire, as it doesn’t consider the fact our county has “very few dual carriageways and no motorways”.

He told The Lincolnite: “Just so we have our terminology correct, having a collision (accident) does not make someone a dangerous driver, there are different levels ranging from driving without due care and attention, careless and of course, dangerous driving.

“The demography of our county is quite unique to other counties, almost all our road network is of a rural nature, very few dual carriageways and no motorways, the safest type of road to drive on.

“Being of a rural nature there are more open roads than built up areas so the national speed limit may well apply which, as you know, exacerbates any collision.

“They have based their figures on population which does not give an accurate figure as not all people drive or even hold a licence for a vehicle, had they based it on miles driven perhaps Lincolnshire would be somewhere different on their rating.”

The Lincolnite also contacted Humberside Safer Roads for a statement regarding North and North East Lincolnshire’s figures.