More road users being killed
The RAC Foundation has responded with concern after new figures from the Department for Transport show more people are dying on the roads, though the number of overall casualties has fallen.
According to the DfT:
“In April to June 2011 there were 500 people killed in reported road accidents, a 7 per cent increase compared to the second quarter of 2010. However, the number killed or seriously injured fell by 4 per cent and the total number of casualties fell by 3 per cent. Provisional estimates of road traffic show a decrease of 1.0 per cent for the same period.”
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
“For all the improvement we have made in road safety over several years, this shows that casualty reduction should not be taken for granted. While it is important not to read too much into one quarter’s figures, we need to know why more people are dying. If it is linked to cuts in local authority budgets then we should be concerned about the future, because spending is set to decrease further in the coming months and years.”
“The Foundation is concerned that with councils under extreme financial pressure a lot of local road safety expertise will be lost as senior members of staff either retire and aren’t replaced, or are made redundant.”
ENDS