Casualties by gender and age

Figure 7 shows the number of reported casualties by gender and age. This figure does not account for differences between age groups in the level of exposure to risk; for example, we do not control for the number of people in each group with driving licences or for the overall number of people in each age group.

In 2024, male fatalities rose by 10 to 116. Female fatalities rose by 3 to 44. Fourteen per cent (769) of all casualties were aged 16–22, an decrease of 6% on 2023. Of these casualties, 444 were male and 325 were female.

Child Casualties

For the purposes of these statistics, casualties under the age of 16 are classified as child casualties. Figure 8 shows that there were 477 child casualties reported in 2024, representing 9% of all casualties (477 out of 5,576) and a decrease of 105 (or 18%) from 2023. Of these, 3 died, two less than in 2023. One of the children killed in 2024 was a pedestrian, one was a car passenger and one was a pedal cyclist. The numbers of fatalities are small, so care should be taken when drawing conclusions from year-on-year changes and trends should be looked at over the longer term.

There were 229 child pedestrian casualties recorded in 2024. They accounted for 26% of all pedestrian casualties of all ages (229 out of 883). Of the child pedestrian casualties, 98 were seriously injured (1 died). The number killed was one less than in 2023.

In 2024, there were 186 child casualties in cars, 6% of all car user casualties (186 out of 3,326). Of the child casualties in cars, 42 were seriously injured and one died.

In 2024, there were 31 child pedal cycle casualties (8% of the total of 382 pedal cycle casualties of all ages) including 7 who were seriously injured, there was one child pedal cyclist killed in 2024, the same as 2023.