How many road accidents are there in Birmingham?

New research has revealed the most dangerous areas for drivers in the West Midlands and where the majority of road accidents occur in the region.

A study by car insurance experts CarInsurance.ae, analysed Department of Transport data from 2013 to 2020 in all local authorities across the West Midlands, on the rate of reported road accidents per 1,000 people.

The research reveals that Birmingham has more car accidents than anywhere else in the region which may not be surprising as it has the biggest population. But alarmingly, the city also has one of the highest rate of accidents - with 2.26 accidents per 1,000 people. That’s 32% higher than the West Midlands average of 1.7.

The figures come as a mother whose eight-year-old son died in a motorway accident in Birmingham urges the government to protect other families from the pain of losing a loved one in a traffic collision.

Meera Naran is encouraging ministers to make autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology compulsory for new vehicles, which she believes would have saved her son’s life following the fatal crash on May 31 2018.

Are Birmingham roads the most dangerous in the West Midlands?

While the CarInsurance.ae research shows that Birmingham has more car accidents than anywhere else in the West Midlands it has labelled Warwickshire as having the most dangerous roads as it has more accidents per head than anywhere else - with Birmingham a close second.

The study found that on average there was an average of 1,329 accidents every year in Warwickshire, for a population of 583,786.

These figures give Warwickshire a score of 2.28 accidents per 1,000 people, which is more than 34% higher than the average in the West Midlands (1.7), making it the most dangerous place for drivers.

Birmingham comes in second in terms of the number of accidents per 1,000 people. The city has 2.26 accidents per 1,000 people, and has more than one million residents, which is 32% higher than the West Midlands average of 1.7.

There are also 2,547 road accidents reported every year in the city - the highest number in the West Midlands.

Stoke on Trent comes in third, with 504 accidents per year and a population of 256,622, giving an overall score of 1.96.

In fourth place is Herefordshire with a score of 1.84, calculated from 355 annual accidents for 193,615 residents. This is followed by Sandwell in fifth place and Wolverhampton in sixth, both with a score of 1.8.

Telford, Solihull and Dudley are the top three safest areas in the West Midlands for driving, with approximately 35% less chance of road accidents than the average area in the West Midlands.

The West Midlands has an overall score of 1.7 accidents per 1,000 of the population, which is lower than the average score of 1.96 across Britian.

Scotland is the safest place overall in Britain, with 1.32 road accidents per 1,000 of the population, compared with 1.51 in Wales and 2.05 in England

Mum pushes for new motoring law before fourth anniversary of son’s death

Dev Naran died on a hard shoulder of the M6 near Birmingham after a lorry struck his grandfather’s stationary Toyota Yaris on May 31 2018.

His mother, Meera Naran, 38, from Leicester in the Midlands, said she wants ‘Dev’s Law’ - which would make emergency braking (AEB) technology compulsory - to be passed to protect other families from the pain of losing a loved one in similar circumstances.

She said: “AEB will significantly reduce the number of crashes and fatalities, so it needs to be adopted as a matter of urgency.

“No-one wakes up in the morning intending to harm someone else, and Dev’s Law is a way in which we can keep ourselves and others safe on our roads and prevent more families going through such painful losses.”

AEB is an in-vehicle safety technology that monitors the road ahead and automatically slows down the vehicle if the driver fails to respond to a collision threat ahead.

It could save more than 100 lives a year, according to Thatcham Research.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said that vehicle repair and insurance company The AA has been lobbying the Government to make AEB compulsory for 10 years.

Ms Naran previously secured government backing for an 18-point action plan around smart motorways.

The AA has also said that 74% of drivers would support the passing of Dev’s Law, according to a survey of 15,677 motorists.

Australia and the EU have already adopted legislation on AEB.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has been contacted for comment.

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