Young Driver Accident Statistics UK: 2025 Data (2026)

Young drivers, passengers and other casualties

In collisions involving a car driver aged 17–24, the 2025 total of 4,735 people killed or seriously injured included 1,381 young car drivers. The wider total also includes passengers in their cars and other road users.

The young-driver group itself included 84 deaths and 1,297 serious injuries. The wider collision total included 269 deaths and 4,466 serious injuries across all road-user groups.

Young-driver risk per mile

DfT’s 2025 analysis gives a killed-or-seriously-injured rate of 152 per billion miles for male car drivers aged 17–24 and 92 for female drivers of the same age. The calculation uses 2024 National Travel Survey mileage as its exposure measure.

Young car drivers accounted for 19% of car-driver deaths in 2025. Collisions involving them accounted for 23% of all fatalities in car collisions, including passengers and other road users.

Long-term and recent casualty trends

Killed or seriously injured casualties in collisions involving young car drivers fell from 11,885 in 2004 to 4,735 in 2025, a 60% reduction after rounding. Among young car drivers themselves, KSI casualties fell from 3,811 to 1,381 over the same period, a 64% decrease. These figures use the current adjusted injury series.

Across 2021–2025, rural roads accounted for 61.5% of young car drivers killed or seriously injured, compared with 56.0% of car drivers aged 25–69. These five-year shares describe driver casualties, rather than everyone injured in their collisions.

Northern Ireland’s graduated driver licensing system

Northern Ireland's Graduated Driver Licensing system launched on 1 October 2026 for those obtaining provisional entitlement on or after that date.

Existing learners must pass their practical test by 31 March 2027 to remain outside the new system; after that, the new requirements apply to them too. This is a Northern Ireland licensing policy, separate from the Great Britain casualty figures in this guide.

Frequently asked questions

What age counts as a young driver in these statistics?

The DfT factsheet defines young car drivers as those aged 17–24.

How many young car drivers died in 2025?

84 young car drivers died in Great Britain. Across all road users, 269 people died in collisions involving a young car driver.

Have serious casualties in young-driver collisions fallen over time?

The KSI total in collisions involving young car drivers fell by 60% between 2004 and 2025, from 11,885 to 4,735. Among young car drivers themselves, KSI casualties fell by 64%, from 3,811 to 1,381.