The reasons for accidents are revealed
Absent-minded drivers are the most common cause of road accidents in Kent, figures reveal. The latest Department for Transport statistics, derived from police forces, show drivers or riders failing to look properly contributed to 697 accidents in Kent last year.
The figures also show that 439 were caused by drivers or riders failing to judge another vehicle’s speed.
Officers can choose one or more reasons for any accident where at least one person suffers a slight injury in an incident with a vehicle.
These do not have to involve cars and could, for example, include a cyclist falling over or a motorbike colliding with a pedestrian.
Last year, 48 people were killed and 693 were seriously injured on Kent’s roads.
This was fewer than in 2017, when police recorded 60 deaths and 751 serious injuries. Overall casualties, which include slight injuries, fell from 5,791 to 5,389 over the period. The DfT cautions against comparing trends from previous years, however, because of changes to the way some forces record the severity of road injuries.
Across Britain, 1,784 people were killed on the roads in 2018, while 25,500 suffered serious injuries.
The trend in fatalities has been broadly flat since 2010, following a sustained drop in road deaths over the last four decades. A DfT spokeswoman said: “We are committed to ensuring our roads are safe and our comprehensive Road Safety Action Plan sets out more than 70 measures to reduce deaths and injuries.”