New analysis from Angelica Solutions highlights the importance of sustained road safety efforts before Christmas, with the number of pedestrians and people travelling in cars, vans and other vehicles killed or seriously injured remaining more than 20% above the weekly average across four consecutive weeks from late November into December.
View the full report here.
While a simple count of all killed or seriously injured road casualties by week shows the summer as the apparent peak, this is driven by motorcycle casualties, who are more vulnerable and over-represented in summer. Angelica Solutions’ latest analysis strips out two-wheelers and identifies late November as the most dangerous period for pedestrians and people travelling in cars and vans.
The week beginning 26th November records the highest number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) among these groups, at 26.9% above the weekly average. Total casualties, including slight injuries are 18.8% above average. This is however only part of the story as the weeks from mid-November through to mid-December consistently top the ‘worst weeks’ league table for both casualties and KSIs (killed or seriously injured).
In the week beginning 3rd December, the number of people killed or seriously injured remains 25.3% above average and 23.3% above average in the week beginning 10th December. Six of the most dangerous weeks fall between the beginning of November and the middle of December.
The findings reinforce the value of insurers’ existing road safety communications and the potential to work with fleet clients to prevent collisions, highlighting the importance of doubling down on these efforts throughout the weeks before Christmas.
The analysis comes ahead of Brake’s Road Safety Week, running from 15–21 November under the theme “Safe People on the Move”. Its focus on safer journeys for everyone reinforces the relevance of understanding seasonal casualty patterns and the responsibility of those with the greatest potential to cause harm to protect more vulnerable road users.
Sarah Vaughan, Director of Angelica Solutions, comments, “A serious road injury can change someone’s life permanently, with consequences for their family, their ability to work and their future care needs. For motor insurers, those same injuries can result in substantial claims that take years to settle. Preventing them has a clear human and financial value.
“Our analysis identifies a period when casualty numbers are consistently elevated. Insurers can use that insight to time prevention messages, support fleet customers and examine what their own claims experience tells them about seasonal patterns in serious injuries. Any new market entrants or small players with limited data should look to the wealth of insight held in Stats19 to help financial planning.”
Many insurers already send targeted winter road safety communications to customers but more can be done to help drive these numbers down. Comparing casualty trends with their own claims data can help insurers assess when additional claims handling capacity or specialist injury support may be needed.
Our earlier analysis this year of the same data found that between 2010 and 2024, casualties among people travelling inside vehicles fell by 46%, compared with a reduction of just 16% among vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Sarah continues, “The improvements in protecting people inside vehicles have not been matched for those outside them, a collision involving a pedestrian or cyclist can have serious consequences even where damage to the vehicle is limited.
“Insurers can help turn casualty analysis into practical prevention, using their relationships with motorists and businesses to reinforce safer driving before the late-November peak and throughout the weeks that follow.”
Examining road user groups separately helps identify seasonal patterns that can be obscured when all casualties are combined. These findings exclude cyclists and motorcyclists, whose casualty numbers follow a different seasonal pattern and rise during warmer months when more people are riding.