Motor Insurance

How Dangerous is Driving a Mile in Each London Borough?

Here are the safest and most dangerous London boroughs for driving. See how roads in your area compare.

More than 9,000 miles of roads crisscross London, but not all roads are equally safe. Driving a mile in some boroughs is simply more dangerous than others. Which boroughs have the best and worst accident rates?

In order to explore the safety of roads by London borough, we gathered accident and traffic data from the Department for Transport (DfT) to determine accident rates per mile of driving. (See the Methodology section below for a detailed description of how we generated our results.)

Which Boroughs have the Best and Worst Motor Vehicle Accident Rates (per mile of driving)?

Motorists are least likely to have an accident driving a mile through Hillingdon, Havering and Kingston upon Thames, with 54.3, 57.3 and 59.9 accidents per 100 million miles driven, respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, drivers in the boroughs of Hackney, Islington and Camden experience much higher accident rates over 300 per 100 million miles of driving.

You’re 6.2 times more likely to be in a motor vehicle accident driving a mile in Camden than in Hillingdon. Put another way, the odds of having an accident per mile driven are 4.6X higher in the 5 most dangerous boroughs (Westminster, City of London, Hackney, Islington and Camden) compared to the 5 safest (Hillingdon, Havering, Kingston upon Thames, Hounslow and Bexley).

Chart showing the rate of motor vehicle accidents across London boroughs

London Boroughs Ranked by Lowest to Highest Rate of Motor Vehicle Accidents

Rank (1 is best, 33 is worst)London BoroughVehicle Miles (million, per year)Accidents (per year)Accidents/100 Million Miles of Driving
1Hillingdon1,34072754.3
2Havering1,00457557.3
3Kingston upon Thames55133059.9
4Hounslow93778583.8
5Bexley57448784.8
6Enfield1,03489186.2
7Barnet1,04599495.1
8Richmond upon Thames46044496.5
9Bromley729740101.5
10Greenwich669714106.7
11Sutton381407106.8
12Redbridge703754107.3
13Harrow348414119.0
14Ealing777944121.5
15Croydon718891124.1
16Merton364498136.8
17Waltham Forest491712145.0
18Newham584855146.4
19Barking and Dagenham373585156.8
20Brent554929167.7
21Lewisham457836182.9
22Wandsworth480982204.6
23Tower Hamlets5411,132209.2
24Kensington and Chelsea321683212.8
25Hammersmith and Fulham322706219.3
26Haringey334856256.3
27Southwark4251,152271.1
28Lambeth4481,287287.3
29Westminster5161,509292.4
30City of London90269298.9
31Hackney276854309.4
32Islington237769324.5
33Camden272911334.9
AverageLondon18,35525,622139.6

Not all accidents are the same. While minor fender benders are certainly stressful and potentially costly to fix, the long-term repercussions are usually manageable. To find which boroughs are best and worst in terms of life-changing accidents, we also analysed data on accidents in which someone was killed or seriously injured (either in the car or as a pedestrian).

Odds of Death or Serious Injury Whilst Driving a Mile in Each Borough

Havering and Hillingdon top the safety charts, with 8.2 and 9.5 killed or seriously injured per 100 million miles of driving by borough, respectively. Kingston upon Thames, Enfield, Barnet and Hounslow follow with 10 to 13 killed or seriously injured per 100 million miles of driving.

In contrast Westminster, Camden, Hackney, Islington and City of London are the least safe, with more than 50 killed or seriously injured per 100 million miles driven on their roads.

You are at least 5.6 times more likely to be involved in an accident in which someone is killed or seriously injured for every mile you’re on the road in the five worst boroughs than in Hillingdon or Havering.

Heat map showing risk of death or serious injury when driving in London boroughs

London Boroughs Ranked by Lowest to Highest Rate of Killed or Seriously Injured in Motor Vehicle Accidents

Rank (1 is best, 33 is worst)London BoroughVehicle Miles (million, per year)Killed or Seriously Injured (per year)Killed or Seriously Injured/100 Million Miles of Driving
1Havering1,004828.2
2Hillingdon1,3401279.5
3Kingston upon Thames5515510.0
4Enfield1,03412612.2
6Barnet1,04513613.0
5Hounslow93712213.0
7Bexley5748214.3
8Redbridge70310414.8
9Bromley72911215.4
10Croydon71811215.6
11Greenwich66910916.3
12Sutton3817018.4
13Richmond upon Thames4608518.5
14Newham58410818.5
15Ealing77714418.5
16Harrow3487120.4
17Waltham Forest49110321.0
18Merton3647821.4
19Lewisham45710723.4
20Barking and Dagenham37310026.8
21Brent55415528.0
22Tower Hamlets54116330.1
23Hammersmith and Fulham32211134.5
25Wandsworth48016935.2
24Haringey33411835.3
26Kensington and Chelsea32112639.3
27Southwark42519044.7
28Lambeth44820245.1
29Westminster51627252.7
30Camden27215255.9
31Hackney27615957.6
32Islington23714159.5
33City of London908291.1
AverageLondon18,3554,07322.2

Methodology

To measure the dangerousness of roads in each London borough, we looked at the most recent 2018 data on motor vehicle miles (the number of miles driven in each borough), accidents and reported casualties from the Department for Transport. Dividing the number of accidents or casualties by the vehicle miles driven in each borough gives a measure of risk for each driven mile in a borough—e.g., the odds of an accident per mile that a driver spends on a road.

Erin Yurday

Erin Yurday is the Founder and Editor of NimbleFins. Prior to NimbleFins, she worked as an investment professional and as the finance expert in Stanford University's Graduate School of Business case writing team. Read more on LinkedIn.

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