Crash casualty figures are on the increase
ROAD traffic collisions on Halton’s roads increased last year as the borough was one of the worst performing local authorities for casualty reduction regionally and nationally.
Councillors on the environment and urban renewal policy and performance board are being updated on crashes and casualties on highways across Runcorn and Widnes in 2016.
The figures show there were 258 collisions last year which produced 354 casualties.
It is a rise of about 15% compared to 2015 where there were 304 casualties from 224 collisions on the borough’s roads.
Of the 2016 casualties, 45 were classed as serious and there was one death, compared to four fatalities during 2015.
The 46 people in the killed or seriously injured category is ‘significantly higher’ than the previous year’s figures, the report said, but ‘not notably’ above the levels achieved in other recent years.
There were six child serious injuries in 2016 compared to two in 2015, while the report said the number of people of all ages being slightly injured rose from 272 in 2015 to 308 last year.
According to Department For Transport data, the report said the borough was ‘one of the worst performing local authorities, both regionally and nationally’ in terms of casualty reduction.
It said: “Whilst this year’s figures for Halton are a cause for concern, it must be emphasised that this is based on one year’s figures only and remembering that casualty figures can be very volatile from one year to the next.
“Many collisions occur that could not have necessarily been avoided regardless of the effort or engineering measures ● put into road safety.
“However, trends will now need to be carefully monitored over coming years in order to try and determine whether there is any correlation between casualties and the reduction in resources that can be put into road safety.
“The Mersey Gateway works must also be seen as a contributory factor over the last few years, as the available highway network decreased in size and consequently traffic migrated onto more minor roads.”
Since April 2011, the council has lost funding for casualty reduction work including annual Government funded capital and revenue Road Safety grants of £75,000 and £396,000 respectively.
An appendix to the report discussing the impact of the Mersey Gateway said there were extensive road closures, junction re-modelling works and diversion routes.
It said that casualty locations included ones at junctions with no previous collision history as increased traffic levels put ‘additional and unwanted strain’ on the highways network.
The national 3% reduction in casualties was not mirrored in Halton, with the borough experiencing a 16% rise last year.
Generally since 2000, the number of collisions and casualties across Runcorn and Widnes had fallen most years.
At the start of the new millennium, there were 558 collisions and 842 casualties on the borough’s roads compared to 224 and 304 respectively in 2015.
The report was discussed at a meeting yesterday (Wednesday).