New road safety figures have revealed a worrying increase in the number of pedestrians losing their lives on roads across the West Midlands.
Recent provisional statistics show that while the total number of people killed or seriously injured on roads during 2025 slightly decreased compared with the previous year, fatalities involving pedestrians have continued to rise.
Transport officials are now planning a detailed investigation to better understand the causes behind this increase. The study will examine possible factors such as the availability of safe pedestrian crossings and other infrastructure issues that could be contributing to the problem.
In 2025 the overall number of people killed or seriously injured on roads across the region stood at 1078. This represents a fall from 1157 incidents recorded in 2024.
However road deaths in total reached 50 in 2025 which is one more than the 49 recorded the previous year. Even so this figure remains lower than earlier years when 57 deaths were reported in 2023 and 62 in 2022.
Out of the 50 fatalities last year nearly half were pedestrians. A total of 24 pedestrians died in road incidents during 2025 which is three more than the 21 recorded in 2024.
This means pedestrians accounted for 48 percent of all road deaths last year. By comparison the figure stood at 43 percent in 2024 and only 28.5 percent in 2022 showing a clear upward trend.
The remaining deaths involved other road users including 13 drivers three passengers eight motorcyclists and two cyclists.
The data also shows that some areas in the region saw improvements while others experienced increases in serious road incidents.
Birmingham Dudley and Sandwell recorded year to year reductions in the number of people killed or seriously injured. Birmingham still had the highest number across the region with 500 cases in 2025 although this was lower than the 556 reported in the previous year.
Dudley reported 85 incidents in 2025 compared with 121 in 2024 while Sandwell saw its figure fall from 156 to 124.
In contrast several areas recorded higher numbers. Coventry experienced 105 cases compared with 82 the previous year. Solihull increased slightly from 68 to 70 while Walsall rose from 72 to 80. Wolverhampton also saw an increase from 79 in 2024 to 83 in 2025.
Motorway incidents also rose slightly with 28 serious or fatal cases recorded in 2025 compared with 23 the year before.
Officials say the rise in pedestrian deaths is a major concern and further analysis is being carried out to identify specific locations where incidents are more common. Researchers are also studying factors such as road design pedestrian movement patterns and the availability of safe crossing points.
Early findings suggest that speed related issues remain one of the most common contributing factors in fatal road collisions across the region.
Authorities say they will continue examining the data closely in order to introduce measures that could help reduce accidents and improve safety for pedestrians and other road users.
