Fatigue-related incidents and collisions
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/25/003578/Q
Version Date: 09/09/2025
The Road Safety and Performance Analysis Departments have provided the following information.
Please see table below, which is reflective of all occurrences from 01/01/2020 – 06/08/2025 where the Std. Occ. Type Description is roads related and the OEL Entry Text contains one or more of the keywords ‘sleep’, ‘fatigue’, ‘tired’, ‘drowsy’ or ‘exhaustion’.
This is just a count of occurrences which contain the keywords above.
To clarify: please provide both driving-related incidents and fatigue-related collisions as well as any other incidents reported involving fatigue/tiredness.
The purpose of this request is to gather data on the number of emergency service callouts linked to sleep, fatigue or tiredness in the region.
Similar information has previously been released under the Freedom of Information Act: “Out of the 21 UK constituencies that responded to a Freedom of Information request, Thames Valley recorded the highest number of fatigue-related accidents over the three-year time period with nearly 400 accidents, while Surrey reported the highest number of fatalities.”
Specifically, I am seeking anonymised data on the following:
1. The total number of incidents attended by your service where sleep, fatigue or driving while tired was recorded as a factor for each of the past five calendar years (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and partial data for 2025 if available)
• Incidents could include, but are not limited to: Falling asleep while driving, road traffic collisions where driver fatigue was cited, etc
• If there is no specific marker or code for “sleep” or “fatigue”, I would be grateful if you could instead provide the number of incidents in which any relevant fatigue-related terms were noted in officer or incident logs—e.g., via keyword search for: “sleep”, “fatigue”, “tired”, “exhaustion”, “drowsy”, etc.
If you are unable to provide the specified information:
• If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
• If you are unable to provide the specified information exactly as requested, please provide *any* data you have that is relevant to the request, e.g. 2024 only, and explain why the other information cannot be provided.
All Incidents
| Year | Count of Occurrence Number |
| 2020 | 131 |
| 2021 | 144 |
| 2022 | 157 |
| 2023 | 143 |
| 2024 | 137 |
| 2025 | 86 |
| Grand Total | 798 |
Injury Collisions where one of the contributory/road safety factors was either 503: Fatigue or D3: Driver/rider too tired to drive/ride safely
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Jan-May 2025 | Total | ||
| Collisions | Fatal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Serious | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | |
| Slight | 8 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 20 | 2 | 60 | |
| Total | 11 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 20 | 3 | 78 | |
| Casualties | Fatal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Serious | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 23 | |
| Slight | 19 | 12 | 23 | 28 | 25 | 2 | 109 | |
| Total | 22 | 17 | 31 | 35 | 25 | 3 | 133 |
For 2020 – February 2025, the relevant Contributory Factor is 503: [driver/rider impaired or distracted by] Fatigue.
For March - May 2025, the relevant Road Safety Factor is D3: Driver/rider too tired to drive/ride safely.
Contributory factors/road safety factors are only listed when an officer attends the scene, and they can assign up to 6 for the whole collision (all vehicles, casualties, or uninjured pedestrians).
These figures show all injury road traffic collisions reported to the Police within 30 days of the occurrence. It does not include medical episodes, off-road collisions or confirmed suicides. All 2024 & 2025 figures are subject to change as they have not yet been reviewed by the British Transport Police.