3. Road traffic fatalities

Demographics

In 2025/26, there were 15 fatal police-related road traffic incidents (RTIs), resulting in 15 fatalities. Of those who died, 12 were men and 3 were women. Eleven people were White, one person was Black, two people were of mixed ethnicity and one person were from an other ethnic group.

No-one was under 18 years old. Four people who died were aged between 18 and 30 years, and the eldest person was 84 years old. The average age was 41 years old. The average age decreases to 36 years if the deceased was the driver or passenger in a pursued or fleeing vehicle. It increases to 54 years if the deceased was a pedestrian, cyclist, or a driver or passenger in a vehicle hit by either the police or the pursued or fleeing vehicle.

Circumstances of death

Incidents are classified as ‘pursuit-related’ if they involved a pursuit, or situations where officers have begun to ‘follow’ a suspect vehicle. Not all these incidents would have entered an official pursuit phase as defined in the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on police pursuits. (See College of Policing (2015) Authorised Professional Practice on police pursuits.)

Incidents where there was a collision involving a vehicle that was recently pursued by the police, but where the police had lost sight of the vehicle, are included. Incidents where the police were driving in the direction of a vehicle, before obtaining permission to pursue, are also included as pursuit-related.

Pursuit-related

There were eleven police pursuit-related incidents, which resulted in eleven fatalities. Of these fatalities:

• Six people were the driver of a vehicle being pursued by the police when it crashed.
• Two people were passengers in the car being pursued by the police.
• One person was a rider of an unrelated moped, which was hit by the pursued car.
• Two people were pedestrians who were hit by the car being pursued by the police.

The IOPC independently investigated ten of the pursuit-related incidents. The remaining incident was referred back to the relevant police force to deal with as it saw fit.

Emergency response-related

This category includes all incidents that involve a police vehicle responding to a request for emergency assistance. Two emergency response-related incidents occurred in 2025/26 resulting in two fatalities. These incidents are both being investigated independently.

This number has decreased from the five incidents and five fatalities recorded last year. The figures for this year are below the average of three emergency-response related incidents and fatalities recorded over the 11-year-period since 2015/16.

These two fatalities involved police vehicles colliding with pedestrians whilst using emergency warning equipment. The circumstances of these two incidents were:

• Officers in a marked police car collided with a pedestrian whilst responding to an ongoing emergency call about a domestic incident.
• A marked police van carrying several officers collided with a pedestrian. The officers had been assigned to attend a public order incident. 

Other police traffic activity

This category includes RTIs that did not happen during pursuit-related activity or an emergency response. There were two incidents in 2025/26 resulting in two fatalities. Both incidents were referred back to the relevant police force to deal with as it saw fit.

Of these two incidents, both happened when a vehicle appeared to respond to the presence of the police:

• An officer in a marked vehicle with blue lights and sirens activated was responding to a report of a disturbance. The officer observed a motorcycle ahead increase speed and overtake other vehicles. The officer contacted the force control room and reported that they believed the rider thought they were being instructed to stop, and as a result had drove off and failed to stop. The officer advised they would not pursue the motorcycle and continued to the original incident. They remained some distance behind the motorcycle and lost sight of it soon after. A short time later, police received a report of a collision involving a motorcycle and a stationary vehicle at a nearby location. It was later confirmed that this was the same motorcycle. The rider was taken to hospital where they later died. We returned the case to the force to deal with as it saw fit. 
   
• Officers on patrol in a marked police vehicle saw a car in the distance that was reportedly driving erratically. The officers increased their speed to obtain the registration number of the car. Shortly afterwards, the vehicle mounted a kerb and hit a bollard. Officers activated their blue lights and sirens to signal for the driver to stop. The driver failed to stop and drove away at speed. Officers de-activated their blue lights and sirens and slowed down. As the officers were not pursuit-trained, they did not pursue the vehicle. Officers informed the control room that a car failed to stop following a collision, and they suspected the driver may have been under the influence. The officers then continued at normal speed, losing sight of the vehicle shortly afterwards. The vehicle was found in a ditch approximately 15 minutes later. The driver was taken to hospital where he died almost three weeks later. We returned the case to the force to deal with as it saw fit.

Trends

This year, 15 people died in 15 separate incidents. There was a decrease in fatalities this year from 26 to 15. This is below the average of 29 road traffic incident fatalities recorded over the 11-year period since 2015/16. The annual figures fluctuate, and year-on-year comparisons should therefore be approached with caution.

Tables 3.1 and 3.2 set out the type of road traffic fatalities and incidents over the past 11 years. The tables show the incidents in the three categories previously described: pursuit-related, emergency response-related, and other police traffic activity. 

This year there was a decrease in the number of pursuit-related incidents. The number of 11 is below the average of 19 incidents seen over the past 11 years.

There was a decrease in the number of pursuit-related fatalities this year, from 18 to 11. There were no pursuit-related incidents that resulted in multiple fatalities. Prior to 2025/26, the last time that there were no pursuit-related incidents that resulted in multiple fatalities was in 2019/20. The number of pursuit-related fatalities this year is lower than the average of 21 fatalities recorded over the 11-year period since 2015/16.

This year has seen a notable decrease in the number of emergency response-related incidents and fatalities. The figure of two incidents and two fatalities for this year is lower than the average of three incidents and three fatalities since 2015/16.

The number of incidents resulting from other police traffic activity has decreased to two from three the previous year, with the number of fatalities also decreasing to two from three. It is lower than the average of four incidents and four fatalities over the past 11 years, and a decrease of over 80% compared to the number of incidents recorded in 2004/05.

~This table presents the most up-to-date set of figures for these categories; any changes to previously published data are indicated.
 

~This table presents the most up-to-date set of figures for these categories; any changes to previously published data are indicated.