Conclusions/Analysis

There was a vast amount of data to look at and so it made sense to understand the general trends in the data by employing software that was capable to do so. By creating data visualisations, it was possible to read trends in the data and be able to identify where there were patterns, anomalies and outliers.

The statistics found in this report show us the probabilities of areas and grouped individuals. It is evident that people between the ages of 26 and 35 are at the highest levels of risk and the majority of accidents occur in daylight hours when commuters are travelling to and from work. This group consists of a large proportion of the general public and so it would be in the interest of the department of transport to promote how road users could be safer on the roads. The info graphic presented below was created as an example of online material that could be shared to reach road users and educate them on the risks they are at.

From the data analysed, we can conclude by saying most of the accidents that happen are of people who are in their 20's and 30's with more limited involvement of younger and older adults because of their lower presence on road. We can also see most accidents happening on single carriageways where the speed limit is 30 mph, indicating a busy zone/urban area. The government should introduce stricter policies in congested areas and on single carriageway roads since that is where most of the accidents occurred. Another factor that should be considered when talking about accidents is to utilise more lights for when it gets dark since a large amount of fatal accidents happen when it’s dark or lights are unlit compared to when there are lights. Policies about decreasing the number of hours where lights are unlit could be taken into consideration.

It would also be sensible for vehicle manufacturers to raise the safety standards of all vehicles on the roads to eliminate individuals in lower IMD deciles being subject to increased levels of risk.

It would also be sensible for the local authorities to create awareness for all road users of the risks to not only themselves but to other vulnerable road users such as infants and the elderly. In particular, creating workshops targeted at the vulnerable road user groups or within primary schools would be beneficial to all road users and bring down the accident rates even further.

There was a significant proportion of the data which were missing or not categorised. For this to be eliminated, the collection method used by the police force (STATS19) would need to be reviewed to draw more accurate descriptions.

To be able to see a timely picture of road accident trends, previous data and reports would need to be compared. It is certain that traffic has increased on the roads since 1998 and the general trends show casualties to have decreased which is an improvement. Hopefully, by further analysing relevant data and implementing changes where appropriate, these digital methods of comparing statistics can be used to effectively reduce casualties and save more lives going forwards.