Record number of hit-and-run collisions in London

The number of hit-and-run collisions in London has hit a record high as campaigners warn that drivers not stopping after a crash has become “almost normalised”.

There were 7,708 incidents recorded in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, up 14 per cent on the 7,079 recorded the previous year.

A total of 761 people were seriously injured and 12 killed in fail-to-stop collisions in 2021. This compared with 682 serious injuries and 14 fatalities in 2020.

At least 167 people have been killed in hit-and-run collisions in London between 2009 and 2021.

Earlier this month, a 28-year-old woman pedestrian and the two dogs she was walking were killed on the A10 at Edmonton. The driver sped off, according to police.

It is a criminal offence under the Road Traffic Act to fail to stop at the scene of a collision. Offenders can be jailed for up to six months.

A total of 1,859 cyclists were injured by hit-and-run drivers in 2021, as were 1,327 pedestrians and 1,363 moped or scooter riders.

The research came as Transport for London revealed a link between poverty and road safety, with the most deprived postcodes having more than double the rate of casualties – from all kinds of road crashes – than the capital’s most affluent areas.