Deaths from violence in Britain: A tentative secular survey

Abstract In recent years about 7,500 persons have been killed annually in road accidents in Britain. This 'slaughter on the roads' represents a mortality rate of around 150 per million persons living per annum (henceforth, pMa). 1 The vast majority of deaths occurred in accidents involving motor vehicles, 2 of which there were approximately 14 million in Britain in 1968. 3 Four decades ago the number ofmotor vehicles was less than one-quarter ofthat to-day (in 1934, 2·4 million): nevertheless, in the 1930's the mortality rate from motor vehicle accidents was almost identical with that of to-day. Clearly, though road traffic has increased and more persons expose themselves to the risks, with much longer exposure for some, man's mastery over the motor vehicle, social as well as technical, has correspondingly increased in recent decades. Individual vehicles are much less likely to be involved in fatal accidents, and for those who travel in vehicles (though conceivably not for pedestrians) the roads are no more dangerous, despite the increased traffic.