Signals passed at danger (SPADs) on Network Rail controlled infrastructure - table
Great Britain quarterly data 1999-00 Q3 to 2012-13 Q4 - Number of SPADs
This table shows the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) without authority in each quarter since 1999-00 Q3. Each SPAD is assigned a score between zero (no risk) and 28 (very high risk). SPADs are used by the industry to monitor performance in relation to operational safety.
Financial quarter
> = 20 (Potentially severe)
16-19 (Potentially significant)
0-15
(No significant risk)
Unclassified SPADs
Total
Moving annual average
1999-00 Quarter 3
-
-
-
-
147
155
1999-00 Quarter 4
-
-
-
-
121
148
2000-01 Quarter 1
-
-
-
-
112
137
2000-01 Quarter 2
-
-
-
-
116
124
2000-01 Quarter 3
-
-
-
-
131
120
2000-01 Quarter 4
-
-
-
-
118
119
2001-02 Quarter 1
32
57
28
7
124
122
2001-02 Quarter 2
50
39
35
4
128
125
2001-02 Quarter 3
36
38
38
2
114
121
2001-02 Quarter 4
16
20
30
1
67
108
2002-03 Quarter 1
28
34
35
0
97
102
2002-03 Quarter 2
26
27
39
4
96
94
2002-03 Quarter 3
35
35
51
1
122
96
2002-03 Quarter 4
15
25
46
1
87
101
2003-04 Quarter 1
6
25
51
0
82
97
2003-04 Quarter 2
18
29
49
2
98
97
2003-04 Quarter 3
15
46
63
2
126
98
2003-04 Quarter 4
4
16
48
0
68
94
2004-05 Quarter 1
6
23
65
0
94
97
2004-05 Quarter 2
9
36
66
0
111
100
2004-05 Quarter 3
10
30
43
1
84
89
2004-05 Quarter 4
9
16
57
0
82
93
2005-06 Quarter 1
3
28
44
0
75
88
2005-06 Quarter 2
2
24
58
0
84
81
2005-06 Quarter 3
8
29
59
0
96
84
2005-06 Quarter 4
6
20
47
0
73
82
2006-07 Quarter 1
2
21
52
0
75
82
2006-07 Quarter 2
3
21
70
0
94
85
2006-07 Quarter 3
8
33
64
0
105
87
2006-07 Quarter 4
5
12
42
0
59
83
2007-08 Quarter 1
6
16
56
0
78
84
2007-08 Quarter 2
6
16
60
0
82
81
2007-08 Quarter 3
4
23
72
0
99
80
2007-08 Quarter 4
5
17
68
0
90
87
2008-09 Quarter 1
3
20
56
0
79
88
2008-09 Quarter 2
8
18
48
0
74
86
2008-09 Quarter 3
4
20
58
0
82
81
2008-09 Quarter 4
2
14
41
0
57
73
2009-10 Quarter 1
4
15
40
0
59
68
2009-10 Quarter 2
4
18
63
0
85
71
2009-10 Quarter 3
7
11
42
0
60
65
2009-10 Quarter 4
4
17
49
0
70
69
2010-11 Quarter 1
3
19
52
0
74
72
2010-11 Quarter 2
3
16
44
0
63
67
2010-11 Quarter 3
10
21
68
0
99
77
2010-11 Quarter 4
2
14
47
0
63
75
2011-12 Quarter 1
4
20
46
0
70
74
2011-12 Quarter 2
1
17
62
0
80
78
2011-12 Quarter 3
2
10
54
0
66
70
2011-12 Quarter 4
2
21
37
0
60
69
2012-13 Quarter 1 (R)
5
13
32
0
50
64
2012-13 Quarter 2 (R)
4
9
50
0
63
60
2012-13 Quarter 3 (R)
6
20
50
0
76
62
2012-13 Quarter 4
1
11
49
0
61
63
Source:
Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB)
 
Publication schedule:
Published: 16 May 2013
Next publication date: 8 August 2013

For a list of all official statistics publication dates, please visit:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1862
 
This is an official statistic. For more details please contact the statistics Head of Profession Jay Lindop at jay.lindop@orr.gsi.gov.uk or on 020 7282 3978.
Background:
The last fatal accident resulting from a SPAD was at Ladbroke Grove in 1999 and subsequently, the industry focussed much effort on reducing the risk from SPADs. This included the Train Protection Warning System (TPWS) fitment programme completed in 2003 and other initiatives aimed at improving driver performance and addressing signalling issues. These measures have helped to halve the overall number of SPADs recorded since the end of 1999.
Key results:
1) There were 61 signals passed at danger (SPADs) in 2012-13 Q4. Although the total number of SPADs for 2012-13 Q4 have gone up by 1 compared to 2011-12 Q4, the total number of SPADs for 2012-13 has been the lowest yearly total since the time series began.

2) The number of SPADs in the potentially severe category in 2012-13 Q4 was 1 . This was the lowest ever, with the exception of 2011-12 Q2 which was also 1, since the time series began.
Methodology:
This data refer to the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) each quarter according to their severity. SPADs are used by the industry to monitor performance in relation to operational safety. When a SPAD is identified, they are assigned a severity rating and grouped into the following bands:

- Severity rating of 0 to 15 are classified as not a significant risk;
- Severity rating of 16 to 19 are classified as potentially significant; and
- Severity rating of 20 and above are classified as potentially severe.

The moving annual average calculates the average number of SPADs per quarter based on the last four quarters.

Revisions may occur as more information becomes available following the event.
Notes, revisions and proposed changes:
 
(R) Since the last publication the number of SPADs have changed in the No Significant Risk category for 2012-13 Q2, Q3 and the Potentially significant category for 2012-13 Q1.

For more details on revisions, please see the revisions log: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/xls/stats-revisions-log.xls
 
There are no changes proposed to SPADs at this time.
Quality:
As part of our commitment to continuous quality improvement we will be producing a full quality report for all NRT statistics, in line with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standards for quality reporting. The quality measures below provide a summary of the key dimensions of statistical quality.

Relevance:
Users of SPAD data are consulted for their feedback by a number of methods, including the NRT portal survey and regular meetings of the Rail Statistics Management Group.
 
If you have any feedback on this data or any of our statistics, please contact rstats@orr.gsi.gov.uk
 
Users of SPAD statistics are currently being consulted about their use of this dataset. We would like to know what you use this data for, we would greatly appreciate if you could complete this quick on-line survey (it should take a maximum of two minutes) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/useofNRT.
Accuracy:
SPAD data are often subject to revision when new events occur and when new information becomes available relating to incidents. Revisions generally occur to the most recent data whilst older data is less likely to change.
 
Timeliness/Punctuality:
The latest data in this release refer to 2012-13 Q4, 1 January 2013 to 31 March 2013.
Accessibility & clarity:
SPAD data are provided as a network total. They include only SPADs that occur on the mainline rail network. Details on the number of SPADs by Network Rail route and by passenger/freight operators are available in RSSB’s quarterly SPAD report:

http://www.rssb.co.uk/SPR/REPORTS/Pages/default.aspx#SPAD
 
The NRT data portal provides on screen data reports, as well as the facility to download data in Excel format. Explanations, notes and caveats are provided with every NRT statistical release.

Comparability & coherence:
See the notes section which will highlight any changes in scope over time. As noted, more disaggregated data on SPADs is published by RSSB.