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Defective tyre casualties rise 19% as road safety progress stalls

The number of people killed or seriously injured in incidents involving illegal, defective or underinflated tyres rose by 19% in 2025, according to Department for Transport figures.

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Defective tyre casualties rise 19% as road safety progress stalls
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The number of people killed or seriously injured in incidents involving illegal, defective or underinflated tyres rose by 19% in 2025, according to figures published by the Department for Transport.

Reported Road Casualties Great Britain data showed tyre-related killed or seriously injured casualties increased from 169 in 2024 to 201 in 2025. The number of casualties across all severities rose by 14% from 585 to 667, while collisions involving defective tyres increased by 8% to 447.

The five-year average for tyre-related killed or seriously injured casualties rose from 150 to 163. Fatal or serious collisions involving defective tyres increased by 18% year-on-year from 139 to 165, taking the five-year average from 123 to 135.

Car occupants accounted for the largest number of tyre-related killed or seriously injured casualties, with the total rising by 15% from 104 in 2024 to 120 in 2025. The five-year average increased from 100 to 104.

Motorcyclist casualties linked to defective tyres rose by 8% from 36 to 39, the highest annual figure recorded in the dataset since before 2016. The five-year average for motorcyclist casualties increased from 27 to 32.

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The rise came as the overall number of people killed or seriously injured on Great Britain’s roads increased by 4% to 29,918 in 2025. Road deaths fell by 4% to 1,538, while the total number of casualties across all severities remained broadly unchanged at 127,883.

The Government’s Road Safety Strategy, launched in January 2026, set targets to reduce total killed or seriously injured casualties by 65% and casualties among children aged under 16 by 70% by 2035, compared with a 2022 to 2024 baseline.

TyreSafe said the latest figures demonstrated the need to give preventative vehicle maintenance greater prominence within the strategy’s Safe Vehicles pillar.

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The charity is calling for tyre-related MOT failure data to be adopted as a Safety Performance Indicator, with more than 2 million vehicles failing their MOT each year because of tyre defects.

Stuart Lovatt, chair of TyreSafe, said: “Last year we called for urgent action as casualty figures remained stagnant. The 2025 data shows that far from improving, tyre-related casualties have jumped by 19% in a single year.

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“That represents 201 families whose lives have been impacted by entirely preventable vehicle failures.

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“Seeing motorcycle tyre-related KSIs hit 39 and car occupant KSIs rise to 120 demonstrates that poor vehicle maintenance is a widespread hazard across all road user groups.

“We welcome the overarching targets set out in the Government’s Road Safety Strategy, but a 4% rise in overall KSIs in year one shows we are heading in the wrong direction.

“Preventative maintenance is a vital element of the Safe System approach. By integrating DVSA MOT data as an official Safety Performance Indicator and backing dedicated public campaigns, we can address better tyre safety management before it leads to disaster on our roads.”

TyreSafe is also calling for tyre and vehicle defects to be included as a priority offence in the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s forthcoming Roads Policing Strategy, a Government-funded THINK! campaign focused on vehicle and tyre safety, and a National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme module for motorists caught driving with vehicle defects.

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