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 2023, male fatalities fell by 14 to 112. Female fatalities fell by 2 to 43. Fourteen per cent (809) of all casualties were aged 16–22, an increase of 4% on 2022. Of these casualties, 502 were male and 306 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 578 child casualties reported in 2023, representing 10% of all casualties (578 out of 5,788) and a decrease of 9 (or 2%) from 2022. Of these, 5 died, two more than in 2022. Two of the children killed in 2023 were pedestrians, two were car passengers 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 263 child pedestrian casualties recorded in 2023. They accounted for 28% of all pedestrian casualties of all ages (263 out of 939). Of the child pedestrian casualties, 107 were seriously injured (2 died). The number killed was one more than in 2022.

In 2023, there were 229 child casualties in cars, 7% of all car user casualties (229 out of 3,385). Of the child casualties in cars, 41 were seriously injured and two died.

In 2023, there were 34 child pedal cycle casualties (8% of the total of 404 pedal cycle casualties of all ages) including 8 who were seriously injured, there was one child pedal cyclist killed in 2023, one more than in 2022.