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More progress made towards road safety strategy targets
Page 24
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DfT data shows that while traffic on UK roads is increasing, the casualty rate is continuing to fall. Dylan Gray reports.
The latest traffic figures from the Department for Transport, covering 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, show that traffic in the UK increased by 1.2% to 127.6bn vehicle kilometres.
Car traffic followed the trend, growing by 1%, while vans were well ahead of the pack, growing 4% to 17.3bn vehicle kilometres. This followed a similar rise in van traffic from 2005 to 2006.
Things were less buoyant further up the weight scale because goods vehicle traffic as a whole fell by 2% to 7.3bn vehicle kilometres.
The DfT figures show that cars still dominate the road, accounting for nearly 80% of all traffic. They are followed by light vans, goods vehicles and other motor vehicles (such as motor cycles) in that order.
There is good news for road safety: overall casualties (deaths and injuries) fell 5% last year; deaths and serious injuries were down by 2%.
Car, motorcycle and pedestrian casualties showed a reduction of 4%, 7% and 7% respectively, while the number killed or seriously injured in these categories fell by 3%, 2% and 2% respectively.
Child casualties fell by 9%; juvenile deaths and serious injuries were down by 6%.
The government published a road safety strategy in 2000, aiming for a 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents by 2010, with a 10% reduction in the slight casualty rate and a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured, compared with the average for 1994-98.
The 2006 figures show that excellent progress is being made towards these targets—the number of people killed or seriously injured was 34% below the baseline, the slight casualty rate per 100 million vehicle kilometres was 26% below the baseline and the number of children killed or seriously injured was 53% below the baseline.
While much of this improvement is down to the public's greater awareness of road safety, ever-improving vehicle safety features are making a growing contribution to road safety.