Road deaths in county nearly double in a year

THE number of people killed on Leicestershire’s roads has nearly doubled in a year.

Some 40 drivers, passengers, pedestrians or cyclists died in road accidents in the 12 months to June 2019.

That is up from 23 in the 12 months to June 2018.

The data, published by the Department for Transport, showed a similar - if less pronounced - rise across Great Britain as a whole.

Nationally, there were 1,870 deaths in the year to June 2019 - up from 1,794 in the previous 12 months.

It suggests a worrying reversal of the previous trend, which saw deaths cut from an average of 2,815 a year in 2005-2009.

While the number of deaths on the road may have risen in Leicestershire, the total number of people suffering non-fatal injuries has fallen. Some 1,557 people suffered slight injuries in road accidents in the year to June 2019, down from 1,739 in the year to June 2018.

The number of serious - but non-fatal - injuries rose from 286 to 307.

The figures cover all incidents recorded by Leicestershire police.

There is currently no breakdown of whether the fatalities on the cityregion’s roads were drivers, passengers, pedestrians or cyclists.

Nationally, however, we know that most people killed or injured on the roads are in a car at the time.

Of the 74,680 people who died or sustained injury in the first six months of 2019, 42,900 were car drivers or passengers.

A further 10,620 were pedestrians - of whom 2,650, or more than a quarter, were children - while 8,250 were cyclists, and 8,010 were motorcyclists.

In their analysis of the national figures, the DfT said the four per cent increase in deaths was not statistically significant and was “likely… a result of natural variation”.

But a spokesman for road safety charity Brake said: “It is shocking to see the number of people dying on our roads increasing.

“Britain’s road safety record has been stagnant for several years and now appears to be deteriorating, a situation which is unacceptable and must change.

“Every death and serious injury on our roads is an entirely preventable tragedy.”