Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has called on the Government to improve drink-driving campaigns and increase road safety education in order to improve road casualty statistics.
IAM’s call for action follows the publication of the reported road casualties in Great Britain white paper which shows there were 1780 road deaths in the year ending March 2016, unchanged from the previous year.
Despite reductions of 3% and 1% respectively for cyclists and motorcyclists in the rolling year ending March 2016, the number of car occupants that were killed or seriously injured during the year increased by 5%, to 9100 people.
The statistics also revealed that there were no changes in drink-drive deaths since 2010 – remaining at 240 a year – and a 2% increase in serious casualties in the last year, to 24,610 people.
“The Government must get to grips with five years of disappointing figures now. It needs to show stronger leadership to really drive down road deaths and serious injuries in the future,” said Tim Shallcross, head of technical policy at IAM RoadSmart. “Road deaths are a serious issue; 35 people a week die in crashes throughout the country. In any other sphere, that would provoke national outrage, rule the headlines for months and provoke urgent government action. It happens week in week out on our roads and it merits barely a mention.”
“More action on drink driving, more on-road enforcement of driving standards and more publicity and education are urgently needed if we are to return to the gains made before 2010,” he added. “IAM Roadsmart urges the Government to take back the initiative and put forward credible plans to address this vital issue.”
