Efforts welcomed to make roads safer

EFFORTS to bring down the number of people killed or seriously injured on Fife’s roads have been welcomed by the region’s safer communities committee.

Figures presented to councillors confirmed 451 recorded road crashes resulted in 607 casualties last year, 10 of which were fatal, 87 serious and 510 in which people suffered slight injuries. The number of crashes is more than the 426 recorded in 2015 and 411 in 2014 but the number of fatal victims decreased from the 12 recorded in 2015, and all categories are still showing an overall downward trend when viewed over a longer-term period.

In 2009 the Scottish Government set road casualty reduction targets for all local authority areas to meet by 2020.

Councillor Margaret Kennedy, chairwoman of the safer communities committee, said the fact Fife remains on course to meet them is “good news”. “It’s clear the numbers will not reduce in a straight line every year but we are seeing a longer-term trend of reducing casualties,” she said.

“Through engineering solutions such as 20mph zones, education measures such as Safe Drive Stay Alive and Pass Plus and enforcement action from the police, we have an effective framework of initiatives to reduce casualties.

“But there is no room for complacency, as the slight increase in some figures for 2016 shows.”