Twelve people were killed on Carmarthenshire’s roads last year, after 17 in 2024, according to Department for Transport figures.
Per mile driven, that is 9.2 deaths per billion vehicle miles, nearly twice the Welsh rate of 4.7 and about twice the British rate of 4.4.
Swansea lost two people on its roads in 2025. Neath Port Talbot lost one.
The council figures were compiled from government tables by the car costs website CarCostCheck, which has also analysed every MOT failure in Britain last year.
177 killed or seriously injured in Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire recorded 177 people killed or seriously injured on its roads in 2025, up from 165 the year before. Swansea recorded 27 and Neath Port Talbot 24.
Per mile, Carmarthenshire’s rate was 135.6 per billion vehicle miles, nearly twice the Welsh figure of 70.5. Swansea’s, at 23.9, was less than a third of the British rate of 86.4.
Deaths and serious injuries across Wales reached their highest level since 2019 last year, but the injury figures come with a health warning.
Dyfed-Powys Police moved to a new way of recording injuries in May 2023. The Welsh Government says it cannot yet tell whether the rise in serious injuries is genuine or down to that change.
The change affects how injuries are graded, not how deaths are counted.
Casualties of all kinds rose in Carmarthenshire, from 473 to 498. They fell in Swansea, from 172 to 139, and in Neath Port Talbot, from 95 to 69.
A dangerous defect in about one MOT in 11
Across South West Wales, 9.1% of MOT tests last year found at least one dangerous defect, according to CarCostCheck’s analysis of Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) data for the SA postcode area.
Once the age of the cars is allowed for, that is the 12th worst of Britain’s 118 postcode areas. The national rate was 7.3%.
The DVSA’s MOT manual describes a dangerous defect as a direct and immediate risk to road safety.
Tyre tread below the 1.6mm legal limit failed 3.9% of tests across the area, CarCostCheck says, 1.8 times the national rate of 2.2%.
Overall, CarCostCheck found 31.1% of first-attempt MOTs in South West Wales failed once age is allowed for, against 27.7% nationally.
Worn tyres and bad brakes in 66 crashes
Police recorded a vehicle defect such as tyres, brakes or steering as a factor in 66 injury collisions across Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire between 2019 and 2023.
Carmarthenshire had 37 of them, Swansea 20 and Neath Port Talbot 9, with 90 people killed or hurt in all.
Defective brakes featured in 14 of Carmarthenshire’s crashes, and faulty steering or suspension in 11.
More cars per head, and more of them diesel
Carmarthenshire has 533 privately kept cars for every 1,000 residents, against 490 in Swansea and 481 in Neath Port Talbot. Of those, 38.7% are diesel, against 29.3% across Britain.
Plug-in cars are catching on fast, up 54% in Carmarthenshire, 60% in Swansea and 65% in Neath Port Talbot in the year to June, ahead of Britain’s 44%.
Three deaths in a fortnight this summer
This year’s deaths are not in the figures. In June, a motorcyclist died in a four-vehicle crash on the A40 between St Clears and Whitland.
Less than two weeks later, a van driver was killed when his van and a coach collided on the A40 between Llandeilo and Nantgaredig. It was the third fatal collision on Carmarthenshire’s roads in less than a fortnight.
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