Twenty-seven per cent of accidental deaths in Britain were due to transport accidents in 2003

Twenty-seven per cent of accidental deaths were due to transport accidents in 2003, according to a detailed statistical analysis of deaths from injury and poisoning in England and Wales published today by the Office for National Statistics.

For males, transport accidents were the most common form of accidental death (37 per cent). For females, transport accidents comprised 15 per cent of accidental deaths. Where the cause of the accident was known, falls were the most common cause of accidental death for females (28 per cent).

Other key statistics for 2003 include:

• There were 16,693 deaths from injury and poisoning in England and Wales in 2003, accounting for 3.1 per cent of all deaths.
• Males accounted for 61 per cent of injury and poisoning deaths. Sixty per cent of these were accidental, compared with 78 per cent of female injury and poisoning deaths.
• Thirty-five per cent of male injury and poisoning deaths were due to suicide (deaths from suicide and injury or poisoning of undetermined intent), compared with 19 per cent of female deaths.
• Looking at the part of the body injured, thirty-one per cent of female injury and poisoning deaths resulted from injuries to the hip and/or thigh, which is related to the high proportion of falls. Where the nature of injury was known, the most common injuries for males were to the head or neck (21 per cent).
• *Mortality statistics: injury and poisoning 2003, England and Wales (Series DH4 no 28).

Available free on the National Statistics website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=621

• Almost half (45 per cent) of deaths from injury and poisoning in males were among those aged 15 - 44, while less than a fifth (18 per cent) of deaths to females were at these ages. Over half (57 per cent) of injury and poisoning deaths in females were to women aged 75 and over, again related to the high proportion of falls.
• Land transport accidents accounted for just under a third (32 per cent) of injury and poisoning deaths in children aged under 15. For people of all ages, land transport accidents accounted for 18 per cent of all injury and poisoning deaths.