A pedestrian died on the M42 westbound between junctions 3 and 2 late on 10 September. Police want dashcam footage. Our DfT data shows the district record.
A pedestrian has died after being struck by a car on the M42 between the two junctions that serve this district. West Mercia Police are still asking drivers who were on that stretch to come forward. The M42 fatal collision happened late on Thursday 10 September.
The force says officers were called to the westbound carriageway between junction 3 and junction 2 at around 10.15pm on 10 September. In its own words: “The pedestrian was struck by a silver Vauxhall Insignia car. He sadly died at the scene.”
When the statement was issued, enquiries were still going on to confirm his identity. No further statement has been published since.
Junction 2 is signed for Alvechurch and Hopwood. Junction 3 is signed for Portway and Redditch. West Mercia Police is the force for Worcestershire and is leading the investigation.
What the force is asking for
The appeal is specific, and it is still open:
- anyone who was driving on that stretch at the time
- anyone who saw the collision
- anyone with information
- anyone with dashcam footage
The force asks that all of it goes to sciusouth@westmercia.police.uk.
On the night, the westbound carriageway stayed shut between junctions 3 and 2 while investigation work was carried out, the eastbound carriageway was subject to temporary closures through the following day, and diversions were in place. The force said at the time that the road was expected to be closed for several hours.
A motorway death here is rare, and that is the point
Road deaths do not appear in the police.uk crime figures at all, so the usual local crime data says nothing about this. The Department for Transport’s STATS19 collision records do. Bromsgrove News downloaded the department’s last-five-years collision file and filtered it to this district’s own code, E07000234.
Between 2021 and 2025, the district recorded 758 collisions in which somebody was injured, and 1,012 casualties. Fifteen of those collisions killed someone. A further 186 left someone seriously injured.
The number of injury collisions has fallen every year, from 173 in 2021 to 135 in 2025. The number of serious ones has not. Collisions in which someone was killed or seriously injured ran 39, 34, 49, 35 and 44 across the same five years, so the worst outcomes are not following the overall trend down.
On the district’s own stretch of the M42, the same five years produced 53 injury collisions and 83 casualties. Only one of the 53 killed anybody, in March 2021. Fourteen left someone seriously injured.
The district’s motorways are not where its road deaths happen. Of the 15 fatal collisions between 2021 and 2025:
- five were on unclassified roads
- three were on the A38
- three were on the A435
- one each was on the A456 and the A491
- one was on the M5 and one on the M42
Two caveats matter. STATS19 only counts collisions reported to the police in which somebody was injured, so damage-only crashes are missing entirely. The most recent year is also revised later, so the 2025 figures can still move.
What it means for you
- If you drove the M42 westbound between junctions 3 and 2 late on Thursday 10 September, the force wants to hear from you even if you saw nothing unusual. Dashcam footage is the specific ask, and it goes to sciusouth@westmercia.police.uk.
- If your dashcam overwrites on a loop, save and copy that clip now rather than later.
- The M42 is not this district’s dangerous road by the numbers. The A38 and A435 each carry three times the motorway’s fatal record over five years, and unclassified lanes carry more than either.
- For live closures, diversions and roadworks across the district, our Bromsgrove roadworks and travel page is updated through the week.
Sources
- West Mercia Police, Fatal collision on M42
- Department for Transport, road safety data, collisions last five years, Open Government Licence. Filtered by Bromsgrove News to local authority district E07000234
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