Road deaths fell in 2004: official figures
DfT stats show fall despite rise in traffic
Not an automatic life-saver
- There were 280,840 reported casualties on roads in Great Britain in 2004, 3 per cent fewer than in 2003. 3,221 people were killed, eight per cent fewer than in 2003. 31,130 were seriously injured (down eight per cent on 2003) and 246,489 were slightly injured (down three per cent on 2003).
- There were 207,410 road accidents involving personal injury in 2004, 3 per cent fewer than in 2003. Of these, 29,726 involved death or serious injury.
- Child casualties fell by 3 per cent. There were 166 child fatalities, 3 per cent fewer than in 2003.
- The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2004 was 3,905 down 5 per cent on 2003. Of those, 2,339 were pedestrians, 2 per cent down on 2003.
- Car user casualties decreased by 2 per cent on the 2003 level to 183,858 although fatalities were 6 per cent lower.
- Pedestrian casualties were 34,881 in 2004, 4 per cent fewer than 2003. Pedestrian deaths were 13 per cent fewer than 2003 at 671 and serious injuries fell by 5 per cent to 6,807.
- Pedal cyclist casualties were 2 per cent lower than in 2003 at 16,648. There were 2,174 seriously injured casualties, 5 per cent fewer than in 2003. The number of pedal cyclists killed went up by 18 per cent from 114 to 134.
- Two wheeled motor vehicles user casualties were lower than the 2003 level at 25,641 in 2004.
- The number killed fell 16 per cent to 585 and the number of seriously injured also fell by 13 per cent to 6,063.
Founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign Paul Smith said, "The fall in road deaths is clearly a triumph of engineering over policy. In fact bad road safety policy has been making our roads more dangerous for over a decade. This welcome fall will undoubtedly be attributed to policy, but since policy is substantially unchanged from last year when deaths rose, that wouldn't make any sense at all would it?"
"Road safety in the UK is being mismanaged and widely misunderstood. The modern emphasis on vehicle speeds is so wide of the mark that it would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. And 'tragic' is indeed the word, because if former trends in road safety had continued throughout the speed camera decade we'd be down to about 2,000 road deaths each year by now."
Smith highlighted some substantial and beneficial road safety gains currently underway:
- Improvements in vehicle safety (thought to make fatalities four per cent less likely each year as vehicle safety improvements ripple into the national fleet.)
- Improvements in road engineering (accident black spot treatments, and roads development transferring traffic to better roads (e.g. bypasses)). A good working estimate for the benefit of roads engineering is around two per cent annually.)
- Improvements in post crash medical care (thought to save more lives at the roadside by about one per cent annually).
These benefits need to be offset against the growth in traffic currently running at about two per cent a year, according to the Government's figures.
Smith said, "I believe that we would see road deaths fall by between five and seven per cent with no 'policy intervention' at all - just as they did throughout the 1970s, 80s and early 90s. But deaths hadn't fallen for a decade despite massive policy intervention (reduced speed limits and speed cameras especially). This indicates with crystal clarity that the policy failed in its stated purpose of saving lives."
Official road safety targets are based on 'Killed and Seriously Injured' (KSI) figures. But it is widely known and acknowledged that the recorded serious injury figures only roughly reflect road safety because there are large and variable numbers of road injuries that are neither reported to the police nor recorded in the statistics.
Road deaths are also down in both the areas without camera partnerships. Down in Durham (24 per cent), and in North Yorkshire (nine per cent) -- both by more than the average change.
Road deaths were up by a shameful 18 per cent in North Wales, where arch speed camera proponent Richard Brunstrom is Chief Constable. Wales overall saw road deaths rise by 16 per cent.
Links
- Road Casualties Great Britain (Main Results) 2004
- Previous copies of the annual report are not available from the DfT web site. SafeSpeed has gathered all copies from 1997 to 2003 inclusive and posted them for download here
- Safespeed's analysis of changes in 'serious injury' figures.
The only problem is the governmant would have to find other ways of robbing (sorry taxing) us to pay for all the incontinent types working in government departments, and all the undeserving scroungers.
Notwithstanding any of the above, we the driving public, should be congratualted for safer driving which IMHO is the real reason for the reduction in injuries.
They only give the information out that makes them look good and not normally what has actually happened.
Anyway wasn't it Vic Reeves who stated a while ago that 87% of statistics were made up on the spot. With this Labourite Scum government Vic's statement is probably quite true.
At the end of the day the government does not give a Sh1t about speed camaras reducing accidents, they put them in situe to generate funds to then give to Europe, so that they can have top quality roads. Meanwhile our roads are more like green lanes these days, infact i cant quite remember the last time i saw a road being re-surfaced, they just get patched. So more potholes bumps etc. This government needs to stop F-ing around, get out of Europe and stop harrasing the innocent driver.
Padestrian deaths/injuries, what the hell are pedestrians doing in the road anyway, roads are for cars.
Bring back adverts on TV about the green cross code, find a suitable spot to cross,(not from behind parked cars) look both ways several times, listen and then cross when it is safe to do so whilst continuely looking both ways, what could be so difficult about this.
The driver should not be penalised for hitting pedestrians, the pedestrian should be penalised or sued for getting hit.
Perhaps this country needs some sort of J-walking law, but then again we would end up with even more sodding zebra/pelican crossing causing even more conjestion.
Perhaps scrap that J-Walking law idea.
Thats probably enough of my politics for everyone for one day.
'Not an automatic life-saver Figures released today by the Department for Transport reveal a long-awaited reduction in UK road deaths -- the lowest annual figure since 1926 -- although the regional breakdown shows a fall in some areas without speed cameras, and a rise in Wales, where adherence to a speed camera programme approaches religion'
The last bit is interesting - 'although the regional breakdown shows a fall in some areas without speed cameras, and a rise in Wales, where adherence to a speed camera programme approaches religion'
Things have been inproveing for YEARS not just because of the scameras
Apache said:
Notwithstanding any of the above, we the driving public, should be congratualted for safer driving which IMHO is the real reason for the reduction in injuries.
That was a joke right?
Not intended as a joke at all. There has always been unskilled drivers on the roads and their always will be, be they young drivers or old people who are unfit to get behind the wheel. that will never change, and with the increasing number of cars on the roads, the statistics should be rising. However they are NOT.
The improvements to car safety is a factor, but in my opinion, the general standard of driving on our roads has improved over the 19 years i have been driving. I think i'm a better driver now than i was five years ago... Don't you Apache
The Surveyor said:
The Surveyor said:
Notwithstanding any of the above, we the driving public, should be congratualted for safer driving which IMHO is the real reason for the reduction in injuries.
That was a joke right?
Not intended as a joke at all. There has always been unskilled drivers on the roads and their always will be, be they young drivers or old people who are unfit to get behind the wheel. that will never change, and with the increasing number of cars on the roads, the statistics should be rising. However they are NOT.
The improvements to car safety is a factor, but in my opinion, the general standard of driving on our roads has improved over the 19 years i have been driving. I think i'm a better driver now than i was five years ago... Don't you Apache
Personally I'd say I'd learned to anticipate things more but I'm sure I've picked up a few bad habits too.
I think these days, with the pressure on driving examiners to meet a 'quota' of passes, there are people now driving who shouldn't be and a complete disregard for fellow road users by twits who would have been picked up by a traffic cop. Policing is done by camera now, the dickheads know that and drive accordingly. So no, standards have fallen......badly
No doubt the speed camera lot will try and claim some sort of victory but then the death figures have failed to improve until 2004 which they must also acknowledge. Especially considering the previous steady rate of decline in deaths each year before the late 90's.
I await next year's report with interest.
The Surveyor said:
The Surveyor said:
Notwithstanding any of the above, we the driving public, should be congratualted for safer driving which IMHO is the real reason for the reduction in injuries.
That was a joke right?
Not intended as a joke at all. There has always been unskilled drivers on the roads and their always will be, be they young drivers or old people who are unfit to get behind the wheel. that will never change, and with the increasing number of cars on the roads, the statistics should be rising. However they are NOT.
The improvements to car safety is a factor, but in my opinion, the general standard of driving on our roads has improved over the 19 years i have been driving. I think i'm a better driver now than i was five years ago... Don't you Apache
Officer that car hit him and chopped his head clean off, dont worry Sir it's minor he'll be running sbout again before your know it
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