Deadliest places to drive revealed… is your home town a hotspot for crashes?

BRITAIN’S deadliest places to drive have been revealed – but is your town a crash hotspot?

Fresh data has revealed the most dangerous roads across the country.

Rural districts and commuter towns with quiet country roads are death crash hotspots.

According to official data analysed by The Sun, 2,055 people were killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads in the year to June 2025 through alleged “unlawful driving” – equivalent to six people every day.

While the City of London records the highest rate of unlawful driving deaths or serious injury at 55.5 per 100,000 – the data is skewed because of its tiny 10,800 population. 

The area only accounts for 0.65 per cent of all Greater London casualties in the year to date.

East Cambridgeshire is arguably the leader for dangerous driving due to this factor.

It tops the countryside list with a serious injury or death rate of 27.9 per 100,000, after police logged 25 such crimes.

South Lakeland, in the Lake District, saw 25 deaths or serious injuries among just 104,800 people – 23.8 per 100,000

Eden, another Cumbrian district, recorded nine fatalities or serious injury offences giving it a rate of 16.2 per 100,000.

And in sleepy Herefordshire, police logged 26 deaths of serious injuries linked to alleged unlawful driving – 13.7 per 100,000.

The City of London Police have been contacted for comment.

Among the horror crashes in East Cambridgeshire – which covers the affluent town of Soham and cathedral city Ely – was a banned driver who killed his passenger in a collision and then lied to police.

Levi Baxter, 22, lost control of his black Skoda Fabis in the village of Wilburton in October 2024.

The car hit a tree on the passenger side, seriously injuring passenger Ben Bland, 19, who later died in hospital.

In an attempt to evade justice, Baxter told police he was a rear seat passenger and the driver had run off.

The coward later confessed his lies and admitted causing death by driving while disqualified as well as causing death by driving while uninsured and unlicensed.

Baxter, of Arbury, Cambs, was jailed for four years and six months in January after eventually admitting causing death by driving whilst disqualified.

Speaking after Baxter was jailed, Det Sgt Shona Birkby, from Cambridgeshire Police, said: “Whilst this sentence will never compensate for the loss felt by Ben’s family, I hope justice being done sends a message that we will prosecute those who drive dangerously in Cambridgeshire.

“Our thoughts continue to be with Ben, his family and friends.”

According to Home Office data, there were 979 offences logged where a driver was alleged to have caused death or serious injury by dangerous driving. 

There were 17 reports of death by careless driving while under the influence of booze or drugs and 1015 logs of death or serious injury by “careless or inconsiderate driving”.

And 49 suspects alleged to have caused death by driving were unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured. 

In picturesque South Lakeland, a schoolgirl was killed after she was hit by a car while playing football.

Poppy Atkinson, 10, was taking part in a training session at Kendal Rugby Club when a black BMW i4 crashed through a perimeter fence separating the pitches at the sport club.

An eight-year-old girl was also injured in the horror crash.

A 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving but was released under investigation.

Cumbria Constabulary previously said the collision was not thought to be a deliberate act.

And in nearby Allerdale in Cumbria, a primary school teacher mowed down and killed a married couple after ignoring medical advice and blacking out behind the wheel. 

David Henderson, 45, caused a head-on smash on the A66 near Workington hat left husband and wife Patricia and Martin Evans dead at the scene.

Moments earlier he had overtaken long lines of traffic, reached speeds of 90mph and aggressively flashed his lights at other cars.

The teacher – who had been warned by medics he was unsafe to drive due to blackouts — was jailed for seven years and four months at Preston Crown Court in February this year.

Detective Constable Tim Fowkes of Cumbria Constabulary’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “Henderson’s driving prior to the collision was reckless – and the very act of driving a motor vehicle whilst knowingly having an unresolved medical issue was, in itself, a very dangerous act.

“Henderson’s selfish actions resulted in the tragic loss of Patricia and Gareth Evans – a husband and wife of 46 years who were simply making their way to St Michael’s Church, Workington to lead a team of bell-ringers.

The highest number of deaths of serious injuries caused by alleged unlawful driving was in Birmingham, West Mids, with 61.

However, its large population saw the rate per capita of 5.25.

Leeds recorded 50 unlawful driving deaths or serious injury cases, followed by Central Bedfordshire (36), North Worcestershire (35) and North Hampshire (33). 

There were 29 reports in Wakefield and Manchester of death or serious injury caused by unlawful driving offences.

The government’s ‘Vision Zero’ plan aims to eliminate road deaths by 2040 and to reduce current numbers by 50 per cent by 2030.

Road safety charity Brake warned that Britain’s rural roads are now the “forgotten killer” of the transport network.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “More than half of fatal crashes in Britain occur on rural roads.

“Per mile travelled, rural roads are the most dangerous roads for all kinds of road user.

“Cyclists, motorcyclists and car drivers are more than three times as likely to be killed per mile travelled on a rural road than an urban road.

“Speed is often a major factor in rural road crashes. A study of single-carriageway rural roads estimated that a 10% increase in average speed results in a 30 per cent increase in fatal and serious crashes.

“The most common crash types on rural roads are collisions at intersections, head-on collisions and running off the road.”