Call for action on road deaths

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 4% on the previous year and the largest number since 2011.

Pedestrian deaths saw the largest year-on-year rise at 10%, followed by car occupants (8%).

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 it is likely due to “natural variation”.