Call for action as road death figures at 5-year high
MOTORING GROUPS have expressed alarm after new figures showed the number of people killed on Britain’s roads reached a five-year high last year.
Some 1,792 deaths were recorded in road traffic accidents in 2016, up four per cent on the previous year and the largest number since 2011.
Pedestrian deaths saw the largest year-on-year rise at 10 per cent, followed by car occupants (eight per cent).
Motoring research organisation the RAC Foundation said there has been “next to no progress made in cutting the number of crash deaths”, while AA president Edmund King described the average of five people killed per day as “totally unacceptable”.
Charities also criticised the figures, with IAM RoadSmart claiming road safety is “bumping along the floor with yet another year without improvement” and Brake warning that progress “has stalled”.
Breakdown rescue firm the RAC said every road user would “view today’s figures with dismay”.
Campaigners called for the creation of a road accident investigation branch - similar to the teams seen in the rail, maritime and aviation industries - so lessons can be learned after accidents.
The Department for Transport (DfT), which published the data, described the increase in fatalities as “not statistically significant”, adding that it is likely due to “natural variation”.
Some 24,101 people were seriously injured on Britain’s roads in 2016.
This represents a nine per cent rise on the previous year, but the DfT warned that comparisons should be “interpreted with caution” due to changes in the way police forces are classifying the severity of injuries.
The new system is believed to be more accurate as it involves the recording of exact injuries which are then automatically categorised. This has led to an increase in the likelihood of injuries being recorded as serious.
A DfT spokesman said: “Britain has some of the safest roads in the world and the number of fatalities has fallen by 44 per cent over the last 10 years, but we are determined to do more.”