Road deaths for older people up 8pc but fall for the young
DEATHS OF older people on Britain’s roads increased by eight per cent last year, according to new figures from the Government.
Provisional data from the Department for Transport shows 637 people aged 60 and over were killed in road accidents in 2019, compared with 588 during the previous 12 months.
The number of older people who died while a car passenger or driver was up 24 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
The Department for Transport said the rise in fatalities for people aged 60 and over was partly due to an increase in the population for this age group.
Meanwhile, the number of people aged between 17 and 24 killed in traffic accidents fell by 13 per cent to 244.
The RAC Foundation’s director, Steve Gooding, said the figures raised doubts over whether there was enough focus on protecting “not just the fit and agile among us but also the increasing
Said figures showed an appalling stagnation in in road safety record.
number of car occupants who are more frail and so particularly vulnerable in collisions”.
Mr Gooding added: “The reduction in the number of fatalities among young people is welcome but more might need to be done to sustain that trend as the long decline in the number of young drivers appears to be reversing.
“It looks set to be boosted still further by people deciding they need the mobility, security and flexibility a car offers in the post Covid-19 world.”
The Department for Transport data, released yesterday, showed that across all age groups the number of people killed in crashes in 2019 fell by two per cent year on year to 1,748.
The Huddersfield-based road safety charity Brake said the annual total had “flat-lined since 2012” when 1,754 people were killed.
The figures highlighted “an appalling stagnation” in the country’s road-safety record for nearly a decade, according to the organisation’s director of campaigns, Joshua Harris.
He called for greater efforts to tackle rogue motorists.
Mr Harris added: “We need to rid our roads of dangerous drink and drug-driving, introduce safe speeds in our towns, cities and rural areas and reinvigorate roads policing, which has been decimated by cuts in funding.”