A new report prepared for Suffolk Constabulary’s Accountability and Performance Panel has highlighted both encouraging progress and continuing challenges in improving road safety across Suffolk, prompting a serious injury lawyer to urge drivers to look beyond the statistics and consider the everyday decisions that shape every journey.
While the report records a small reduction in fatal collisions during the past year, it also shows an increase in the number of people killed or seriously injured. It identifies ineffective observation as the leading contributory factor in serious collisions and highlights the continued concentration of serious collisions on the county’s A roads.
Key findings from the report
The report identifies several significant findings for the year to April 2026, including:
- Fatal collisions reduced from 16 to 14.
- Killed and Seriously Injured collisions increased from 328 to 341.
- Ineffective observation by drivers, riders or pedestrians remained the most commonly recorded contributory factor, identified in 32% of killed and seriously injured collisions.
- A roads accounted for 36.4% of killed and seriously injured collisions, despite representing only 10.7% of Suffolk’s road network.
- Pedestrian casualties increased from 52 to 71.
- Drivers aged 17 to 24 remained over-represented in killed and seriously injured collisions compared with their proportion of full driving licence holders.
Reports such as this are more than understanding what happened over the past year. They help identify patterns in driver behaviour and the circumstances surrounding serious collisions, informing education, enforcement and engineering measures aimed at making Suffolk’s roads safer.
Bernice Spurgeon, Legal Director in the Injury Services Team at Ellisons, said: “Any reduction in fatal collisions is welcome, but serious injuries can also change lives forever. Through my work, I meet people whose lives have been altered in an instant. Some recover well but others spend months or years rebuilding their lives, adapting to permanent injuries or learning to live with challenges they never expected. The phrase ‘Killed and Seriously Injured’ can sound quite clinical, but behind every statistic is a person, a family and a story that continues long after the emergency services have left the scene.”
Bernice said two further findings deserved careful reflection. “The report shows that more than a third of serious collisions happen on A roads, despite them representing only a small proportion of Suffolk’s road network. Those roads connect communities, workplaces and families, but they also demand constant concentration, good observation and sound judgement. I was also struck by the increase in pedestrian casualties. It’s a reminder that road safety isn’t only about drivers. Whether we’re walking, cycling, riding a motorcycle or travelling by car, we’re all sharing the same road environment. Some road users are inevitably more vulnerable than others, making awareness and consideration even more important.”
Bernice hopes the report encourages people to think differently about the journeys they make every day. “Most journeys begin as completely ordinary journeys. People are driving to work, taking children to school, visiting friends, going on holiday or heading home. Nobody expects that journey to end in a serious collision. I can say that as I was involved in a serious road traffic accident myself whilst on holiday. Reports like this are not simply about understanding what happened last year. They’re about helping all of us make safer decisions tomorrow. If reading these findings encourages someone to pay a little more attention, anticipate one more hazard or approach their next journey a little differently, then it has already achieved something worthwhile.”