Southampton has been named the sixth most dangerous place to drive in the UK outside London, new data has revealed.

Historical data was compiled between 2018 and 2023 for every local authority across the UK, all being sourced from the Department for Transport.

The research, conducted by Tollwayr, included all severities of collisions, not just those which were fatal, and then calculated an average across the three years.

Southampton ranked sixth, with an average of 781 collisions per billion vehicle miles between 2018 and 2023 – well above the UK average of just 335 per billion.

The city was calculated as the most dangerous in Hampshire, with no other city in the county hitting the top 10.

READ MORE: M27 has been fully open for only 1 in 4 days in six years, new data shows

Roadworks wreaked havoc on Southampton in October 2024 when several road closures left commuters gridlocked across the city, which would not have helped motorists in the city.

Temporary signals at the Civic Centre Road junction and rail repairs on St Denys Road plagued the city with traffic for months.

Temporary lights at the Civic Centre Road junction.Temporary lights at the Civic Centre Road junction. (Image: Alex Stapleton) It left drivers powerless in rush hour hotspots like the centre and A335.

Closures on the M27 were also persistent throughout the time where data was recorded.

The motorway was only fully open for 26 per cent of the time between January 2019 and the end of October 2024, as previously reported by the Echo.

Crews working on resurfacing the M27.Crews working on resurfacing the M27. (Image: Newsquest) A Freedom of Information request submitted to National Highways revealed that from January 2019 to October 2024, the arterial route through southern Hampshire was fully open for just 554 days out of 2131 days.

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This includes closures on M27 slip roads and overnight closures.

Nationally, it was found that Blackpool is statistically the UK’s most dangerous area to drive in outside London.

There were on average 976 collisions per billion vehicle miles between 2018 and 2023 in the Lancashire town.

Hull came in second with an average of 943, though in 2018, it averaged 1,051 collisions.

The Isles of Scilly came in third with 936 per billion miles, while Luton was fourth with 856.

Brighton and Hove rounded out the top five with an average of 851 collisions.

The study also found that Moray, in Scotland, is statistically the safest area, with just 82 collisions per billion vehicle miles between 2018 and 2023.