Driving bans, convictions and deaths by dangerous driving

FOI Ref: ​FOI/2022/3549

You asked

Please supply the following information:

1) How many people were given driving bans each year since 2011 up to the most recent year available.

2) How many people were given driving bans each year since 2011, who have had a previous driving ban up to the most recent year available.

3) How many people have died each year since 2011 from a road traffic accident in which it was deemed that it was not their fault at all.

4) How many people in England have driven each year since 2011, who had previously been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

5) What is the average custodial sentence and/or driving ban given to someone who has been convicted of:

a) causing death by dangerous driving,

b) causing death by careless driving

c) failing to stop at the scene of an accident

6) What were the reasons stipulated given for driving bans issued by the court e.g. driving under the influence, causing death by dangerous driving, speeding.

7) What are the demographics including age, gender, race, occupation, religion and marital status of people who have caused death by dangerous driving.

8) How many people have had a further speeding offence or been arrested for a suspected driving offence, whilst on bail after being charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

9) How many people in England work in an occupation that requires a special licence e.g. HGV licence, who have had a driving ban/conviction of causing death by dangerous/careless driving/driving under the influence.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry on driving bans and convictions, sentencing for driving offences, repeat driving offences, spending on driving safety campaigns and the number of people working in a driving occupation following conviction of a driving offence.

Police recorded crime data published as part of our Crime in England and Wales quarterly bulletins provide a breakdown of driving offences under the categories of "causing death or serious injury by dangerous driving", "causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs" and "causing death by driving: unlicensed or disqualified or uninsured drivers" in Appendix Table A4. Unfortunately, we do not hold any further breakdown or information on these offences.

We do not hold data on prosecutions or court outcomes for driving offences; these are held and published by the Ministry of Justice who are contactable by e-mail: ESD@justice.gov.uk and may be able to provide you with more information.

We do not hold data on arrests for driving offences; these are held and published by the Home Office, who can be contacted by email: CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.

We do not hold any data on the cost of the Think! road safety campaign or the number of people working in driving professions following a ban or conviction for a driving offence. The Department for Transport may be able to supply this information and can be contacted by email: transport.statistics@dft.gov.uk.

If you have any crime-related queries in the future, please email crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.

Road traffic incident deaths

ONS mortality data is taken from information collated at the point of death registration.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules.  

The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:

a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or\ b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury

There are numerous ICD-10 cause codes for deaths due to injuries sustained in collisions with other motor vehicles.

We have attached an output from NOMIS for 2013 to 2020.

Further disaggregation of this data is available on NOMIS. This can be accessed by following these instructions:

• Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority).  
• Select Age - All ages or 5-year age bands.
• Select Gender - Total or Male/Female  
• Select rates - All deaths, rates or percentage of population for example.  
• Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available).  
• Select format (Excel or CSV for example) For more historic data, please use our 21st Century Mortality publication which will hold data from 2001 to 2020.

However, we cannot tell from the ICD-10 code if the accident was the fault of the deceased. If the death has been referred for Coroner investigation, we can look to see if there are any four-digit ICD-10 codes as the secondary cause (S and T codes), whilst looking at specific circumstances surrounding the death.

This would need to be created as a bespoke request. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there may be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.

Unfortunately, we do not hold demographics, including age, gender, race, occupation, religion and marital status, of people who have caused death by dangerous driving his information. The Ministry of Justice may be better placed to assist. They can be contacted on data.access@justice.gov.uk