UK road safety sees good and bad

There is both good and bad to be seen in the latest data on UK road safety from the Department for Transport (DfT). For the year ending September 2015 there were 23,700 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties, a 3% decrease compared with the previous year. However road deaths increased by 3% to 1,780, compared with 1,731 for the year ending September 2014. There were also 188,830 reported road casualties of all severities, 3% lower than for the year ending September 2014. Of note is the fact that motor
February 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThere is both good and bad to be seen in the latest data on UK road safety from the 5432 Department for Transport (DfT). For the year ending September 2015 there were 23,700 killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties, a 3% decrease compared with the previous year. However road deaths increased by 3% to 1,780, compared with 1,731 for the year ending September 2014. There were also 188,830 reported road casualties of all severities, 3% lower than for the year ending September 2014. Of note is the fact that motor traffic levels rose by 2.2% compared with the 12 month period ending September 2014. Using this data, the overall casualty rate/vehicle mile decreased by 5% for the same period.

Between July and September 2015 there were 450 road deaths, a 2% decrease from the same quarter in 2014. And KSI casualties decreased by 3% with slightly injured casualties and overall total casualties both falling by 1% compared with the same quarter in 2014.

The data for vulnerable road users shows a gain for safety. The KSI figures for the year ending September 2015 cyclists saw a 5% decrease to 3,340, while the KSI figures for pedestrians dropped 4% to 5.300 and the KSI figures for motorcyclists dropped 3% to 5,350. The KSI figures for car occupants also fell 3% to 8,580. Child KSI casualties dropped 8% to 1,900.

Road safety charity 3963 Brake says it is disappointed over these figures. An estimated 5,620 drink-drive crashes took place in Great Britain in 2014, equivalent to just over 15 collisions/day. These crashes resulted in 240 deaths and represent 14% of all deaths on the roads; there were 8,220 casualties.

Brake’s campaigns director Gary Rae said, “Behind the statistics, families are ripped apart by what is a violent and sudden death. I want to know what the government intends to do to stop these wholly preventable deaths. It’s time for them to take action: reintroduce casualty reduction targets; reduce the drink drive limit to 20mg per 100ml of blood, and introduce much tougher penalties for criminal drivers.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Analysing intelligent speed adaptation benefits
    April 12, 2012
    Oliver Carsten, Professor of Transport Safety at the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, UK, discusses Intelligent Speed Adaptation, looking at its safety potential
    Read More
  • Data shows young people face highest road fatality risk
    May 18, 2012
    The latest official data from the European Transport SafetyCommission (ETSC) shows that young people are amongst those facing the highest fatality risks while on the road in Europe. Some 140,000 young people aged 15-30 have lost their lives on Europe’s roads since 2001. Of these, 9,150 died in 2010. While this age group represents 20% of the population of the EU, the same group accounts for 30% of the total number of road deaths.
    Read More
  • Caterpillar reports slight sales dip for full year 2014
    February 16, 2015
    Global construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar reported full-year 2014 sales $55.184 billion, down from $55.656 billion in 2013. Caterpillar also reported fourth-quarter 2014 sales of $14.244 billion, again slightly down at 1% from $14.402 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. The results and a continued weak to modest improvement has dampened Caterpillar’s expectation of increased sales for 2015, likely to be around $50 billion. “Overall, we had many positives and a better year in 2014 than 2013,”
    Read More
  • Safety for off-road vehicles
    November 14, 2018
    A new report has highlighted the risk of crashes involving ATVs being operated off-road by young drivers. According to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in the US, ATV injuries led to over 2 million visits to hospital emergency departments in the period between 2000 and 2015. In 2015 alone, there were 108,000 visits to emergency rooms in the US, as a result of ATV crashes.
    Read More

Highlighted Content