Friday morning, 30 October

A man was walking on the A6 Buxton Road near Winifred Road, Heaviley.

He was hit by a Bee Network bus and died.

He was one of 35 people who have died on Greater Manchester’s roads in 2026.

2026, day by day

Each square is a day.Each square is a person.

A red square means someone died on a Greater Manchester road that day, and amber means someone was seriously injured.We only name people who have died, and only once the police or their family have released the name. Tap anyone to read what happened.

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Someone diedSomeone was seriously injuredTap or hover over a square to see who it was
Alfie Moran, 162 January · WalkingA man4 January · WalkingA woman4 January · WalkingA 90-year-old woman7 January · WalkingMasrob Ali, 5411 January · DrivingMohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, 1811 January · DrivingFarhan Patel, 1811 January · PassengerMohammad Danyaal Asghar-Ali, 1911 January · PassengerA 29-year-old woman11 January · PassengerA 28-year-old woman11 January · PassengerA 30-year-old man11 January · PassengerA man in his 70s16 January · DrivingAn 87-year-old man24 January · WalkingA 30-year-old man30 January · WalkingA 79-year-old woman5 February · WalkingA pedestrian6 March · WalkingMatthew Walker, 488 March · WalkingSylvester Abayomi9 March · DrivingA 65-year-old woman16 March · Not knownA person16 March · Not knownA person16 March · Not knownA person16 March · Not knownMichael Margetson17 March · Not knownAnthony Neville Breed, 3920 March · MotorcyclingMichael Mullins, 5620 April · CyclingA man in his 20s26 April · E-scooterA woman in her 30s27 April · WalkingErica De Sousa Correia, 175 May · Not knownAn 80-year-old woman6 May · Not knownJames Swinscoe, 776 May · Not knownA woman6 May · Not knownA 38-year-old man7 May · CyclingAn 80-year-old man14 May · WalkingChristopher Neary, 581 June · Not knownA woman in her 50s11 July · DrivingA 58-year-old man21 July · WalkingA 64-year-old man28 July · WalkingA man in his 50s3 August · CyclingNatasha Denman5 August · Not knownA 24-year-old man5 August · Not knownA man in his 20s5 August · Not knownA man in his 20s5 August · Not knownLuke Hill, 286 August · MotorcyclingA 79-year-old pedestrian27 August · WalkingA woman in her 70s8 September · DrivingEthel Walsh, 8514 September · Not knownA woman in her 80s14 September · Not knownDamien Mahon, 4722 September · MotorcyclingAn 82-year-old man6 October · WalkingA 56-year-old woman6 October · WalkingA woman in her 60s10 October · Not knownCody Lowndes, 2717 October · WalkingA motorcyclist19 October · MotorcyclingA 78-year-old man22 October · WalkingStephen Sparks, 4427 October · MotorcyclingA man30 October · WalkingA 19-year-old man31 October · WalkingA motorcyclist31 October · MotorcyclingA man in his 80s2 November · Cycling

The trend

In 2025, 1,043 people were killed or seriously injured on Greater Manchester’s roads.

It is the highest figure of the last five years, and 31% above 2023.

Source: DfT

And it is falling hardest on people walking and cycling.

Of the 1,043 people killed or seriously injured in 2025, 311 were walking and 204 were cycling.

Source: DfT

Walking and cycling casualties are surging.

Between 2021 and 2025, the number of people killed or seriously injured while cycling rose by 61%. For people walking it rose by 29%, while for people in cars it rose by 8%.

Source: DfT

The latest figures show it is still going the wrong way.

TfGM’s own rolling count lets us compare like with like. Between July 2025 and June 2026, 1,006 people were killed or seriously injured. That is up from 971 in the year to June 2025, and from an average of 870 a year in the three years before that.

Source: TfGM, Bee Network Committee, 27 November 2025 and 24 September 2026

8332021851202279920231,02420241,0432025On footOn a bikeMotorbikeIn a carOtherTfGM rolling count, comparing like with like870Average a yearJul 2021 to Jun 2024971Jul 2024 toJun 20251,006Jul 2025 toJun 2026

The promise

Since 2022 the number has gone up, not down.

It rose from 851 in 2022 to 1,043 in 2025. TfGM’s latest rolling count, 1,006 for July 2025 to June 2026, is up on the year before.

Source: DfT; TfGM, 24 September 2026

Vision Zero promises to halve it by 2030.

To be on course for that, 2025 should have come in at around 691. Instead it was 352 higher.

The strategy counts deaths and life-changing injuries, which is a slightly different measure, so treat this as a guide to the gap rather than an exact figure.

Source: GMCA Vision Zero Strategy, 2024, which sets the target for deaths and life-changing injuries; applied here to DfT figures

There are 1,517 days left to keep that promise.

That means bringing the number of people killed or seriously injured each year down from 1,043 to around 426.

02004006008001,0001,20020212022202320242025202620272028202920308338517991,0241,043Halved by 2030: 426 352 above the path1,517 days leftto get from 1,043 to 426

Why it is happening

Two in three people killed or seriously injured in Manchester were walking, cycling or on a motorbike.

Those journeys make up 41% of trips in the city, but account for 67% of those killed or seriously injured. Most of the people hurt were hit by motor vehicles.

Source: Manchester City Council, Vision Zero Strategy and Road Safety, 3 November 2026

At the same time, the cars around them are getting bigger.

The average new car bonnet has gone up from 76.9cm in 2010 to 83.7cm in 2024, about half a centimetre a year. It is called carspreading.

Source: Transport & Environment, June 2025

A taller front end makes a crash more likely to be fatal.

Research cited by Transport & Environment found that when a bonnet is 10cm taller, the risk of death for someone walking or cycling goes up by 27%.

Source: Transport & Environment, June 2025

76.9cm201083.7cm2024Average new car bonnet height +27%risk of death per 10cm 76.9cm201083.7cm2024Average new car bonnet height +27%risk of death per 10cm

Where it is happening

The A6 is the most dangerous road in Greater Manchester.

Between 2021 and 2025, 139 people were killed or seriously injured on it, and 12 of them died. On 30 October a man walking on the A6 in Stockport died after being hit by a Bee Network bus.

Source: DfT; Greater Manchester Police

The worst of it is on the main roads.

These are the ten roads where the most people were killed or seriously injured between 2021 and 2025, with deaths shown in red.

Source: DfT

  1. 1A6
    139 killed or seriously injured · 12 deaths
  2. 2A58
    129 killed or seriously injured · 14 deaths
  3. 3A57
    107 killed or seriously injured · 9 deaths
  4. 4A56
    106 killed or seriously injured · 6 deaths
  5. 5M60
    92 killed or seriously injured · 14 deaths
  6. 6A665
    68 killed or seriously injured · 2 deaths
  7. 7A62
    66 killed or seriously injured · 9 deaths
  8. 8A34
    65 killed or seriously injured · 4 deaths
  9. 9A664
    65 killed or seriously injured · 2 deaths
  10. 10A6010
    58 killed or seriously injured · 5 deaths

Who can fix it

Bev Craig must act: road danger in Greater Manchester is at a five-year high.

As leader of Manchester City Council she led the work on the city’s Vision Zero plan, and Manchester is delivering on that plan. As Mayor she now has the chance to do the same for the whole of Greater Manchester, and the job comes with real power to do it.

The buses are part of that.

Buses in Greater Manchester have been franchised since January 2025, so TfGM writes the contracts and sets the standards on the Mayor’s behalf. Around 32 people a year are killed or seriously injured in collisions involving a bus or coach.

This year: A man in his 80s, seriously injured on Deansgate at Bridge Street, Manchester city centre, 2 November; A man, died on the A6 Buxton Road near Winifred Road, Heaviley, 30 October; Luke Hill, 28, died on Wigan Road at Alexandra Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, 6 August.

Source: DfT; Greater Manchester Police

So who trains Bee Network drivers, and who checks the training is good enough?

These should be the safest buses in the country, driven to the highest standard. But nothing published sets out how Bee Network drivers are trained to drive around people walking and cycling, and nobody has published what that standard is.

So is policing.

The Mayor holds the police and crime commissioner’s powers, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which she chairs, owns the Vision Zero strategy.

The streets themselves are run by the ten councils.

All ten councils are part of the partnership behind the Greater Manchester strategy, but it says itself that it is not a funded delivery plan. Manchester City Council has now drafted the local version, with half as many deaths and serious injuries by 2030, 70% fewer by 2035, none by 2040, and 20mph as the default on residential streets.

Source: Manchester City Council, 3 November 2026

Now the other nine councils have to deliver too.

Road danger does not stop at the city boundary. Manchester is delivering on the plan, and the Mayor is well placed to bring the other nine councils with her.

Mayor of Greater ManchesterBev Craig
Bee Network busesTfGM sets the contracts and standards on her behalfAbout 32 a year killed or seriously injured in bus collisionsWho trains the drivers?
PolicingPolice and crime commissioner powers
Vision ZeroGMCA strategy, adopted November 2024
BoltonHighway authority
BuryHighway authority
ManchesterDraft Vision Zero plan
OldhamHighway authority
RochdaleHighway authority
SalfordHighway authority
StockportHighway authority
TamesideHighway authority
TraffordHighway authority
WiganHighway authority

Manchester is delivering on the plan. Now the rest of Greater Manchester has to.

The numbers are going up, and it is people walking and cycling who are paying for it. All ten councils sit on the partnership that adopted the Greater Manchester Vision Zero strategy, which aims for zero by 2040. But the strategy says itself that it is not a funded delivery plan, and it has no 2035 target or speed commitments. Nothing published sets out how Bee Network drivers are trained to drive around people walking and cycling. Manchester’s draft is the first local plan to spell out what delivery looks like. Bev Craig led that work, and as Mayor she can now take it across the city region. It is time to kick on. We are asking for:

  1. The other nine Greater Manchester councils to deliver on Vision Zero as Manchester is, with local plans that match Manchester’s: half as many deaths and serious injuries by 2030, 70% fewer by 2035, none by 2040.
  2. The Mayor and GMCA to add a 2035 target and speed commitments to the Greater Manchester strategy, fund it, and report every borough’s progress each year.
  3. A Bee Network driver safety standard, written into every bus contract and published, including training on driving around people walking and cycling.
  4. Parking charges and permits that rise with the size and weight of the vehicle in every borough, as Cardiff has proposed, so the biggest cars pay more for the space they take up.
Read Walk Ride GM’s statement
Walk Ride GM