APCC Road Safety Lead responds to latest road casualty figures
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ road safety lead has called for greater efforts to reduce the number of deaths on British roads after figures showed there had been no reduction in fatalities in a year.
PCC Alison Hernandez welcomed a recent raft of initiatives to keep vulnerable road users safer but said statistics released by the Department for Transport today (September 27) showed progress made to reduce the number of serious casualties had slowed.
There were 1,793 reported road deaths in 2017, similar to the level in 2012, according to the 2017 annual report. The decline in fatalities has slowed considerably since 2010 and there was no significant change in the number of fatalities between 2016 and 2017.
“British roads are still among the safest in the world, but we must not be complacent,” Alison said.
“Life and health should not be compromised by our need to travel and no level of death or serious injury is acceptable on our roads.
“I welcome the fact that the Government is developing a new road safety action plan focusing on young drivers, older vulnerable users, motorcyclists and rural road users.
“It’s important that we now progress the next phase of that work to ensure that education and enforcement play their parts in improving these figures.”
The Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner’s office is working with the RAC Foundation on a project to provide a greater depth of statistic around road traffic collisions. This data will help to build a picture of the wider factors which may have influenced driver decision-making.
The 2017 annual report on Reported road casualties in Great Britain can be read here.