Wednesday 7th April 2004

Is Road Safety Improving?

Govt claim road safety strategy is working

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The Department for Transport has today published the first review of the Government's Road Safety Strategy to coincide with World Health Day, which this year is focussing on the road safety globally.

The review charts the progress to date on achieving the Government's road safety targets and claims that in the first three years of the strategy there has been:

• A 17% drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads, and

• A 33% reduction in the number of children killed and seriously injured.

It also details the areas which will require continuing attention as the strategy develops. These include:

• The number of deaths which has not fallen significantly since 1998,

• The rise in drink-drive related deaths and injuries,

Road safety Minister David Jamieson said:

"The Road Safety Strategy provided a challenging set of targets for casualty reduction and I am delighted with the progress we are making. There are many people alive and well today who would otherwise have been injured or even killed ."

"I am particularly pleased with the progress we are making on reducing child death and injury, which is already down 33%. But we are not complacent. Road safety is everyone's responsibility and we need to continue to make all road users aware of how they can contribute to making our roads safer for everyone. We have to concentrate our efforts on the areas which we've identified as needing further attention - with further reducing deaths and motorcyclist and drink-drive casualties presenting a challenge we must tackle ."

The review of the Government's Road Safety Strategy is available on the Department's website at www.dft.gov.uk/roadsafety/">www.dft.gov.uk/roadsafety .

[swilly]

I'm confused.

DOT said:

.....claims that in the first three years of the strategy there has been: · A 17% drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads, and · A 33% reduction in the number of children killed and seriously injured.

but then goes on to say

DOT said:

It also details the areas which will require continuing attention as the strategy develops. These include: · The number of deaths which has not fallen significantly since 1998,

Surely a 17% (and 33% reduction in children KSIed) reduction in KSI's is significant.

Unless they mean these % really only relate to the serious injury reductions and deaths have not changed significantly at all.

[Don]

swilly said:

Unless they mean these % really only relate to the serious injury reductions and deaths have not changed significantly at all.

Looks like it.

And any improvement in serious injuries has got to be due to better crash protection in vehicles....sod all to do with "better" driving!

[d-man]

Yes the reported numbers of KSIs are falling and yet deaths on the roads are at best not changing. I believe the number of deaths is the best indicator of road safety policy as its less open to external factors - people can be reclassified from seriously to slightly injured in a number of completely innocent ways, especially as what counts as a 'serious' injury isn't really that serious - paramedics treating people at the scene rather than taking them to hospital for example. You can't be reclassified from dead to alive.

I've just taken a quick look at the document linked from the article and the DfT's analysis is laughable. They take the average KSIs over 1994 - 1998 as their baseline, as KSIs were decreasing at around 4% this is clearly skewed. I don't have the numbers to hand, but assuming 1994 - 1998 followed the 4% a year trend they've effectively chosen something around the 1996 figure as their baseline and then given themselves the 1997 and 1998 decreases for free in the first year. This is evident from their own stats - baseline KSI of 47.6k, falls to 42.5k in the first year (1999) but only to 39.4k for 2002.

In fact, roughly 60% of the gain the DfT are claiming took place in 1999 according to their figures.

[rospa]

We need to get away from KSI and split injuries into:

Fatal
Serious Injury
Slight Injury

Only then will we get a true picture of what is happening.

[nonegreen]

swilly said:

I'm confused. DOT said: .....claims that in the first three years of the strategy there has been: · A 17% drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads, and · A 33% reduction in the number of children killed and seriously injured. but then goes on to say DOT said: It also details the areas which will require continuing attention as the strategy develops. These include: · The number of deaths which has not fallen significantly since 1998, Surely a 17% (and 33% reduction in children KSIed) reduction in KSI's is significant. Unless they mean these % really only relate to the serious injury reductions and deaths have not changed significantly at all.

Its quite simple really.

The clever motor car manufacturers have made cars safer, not just for occupants but for people they collide with as well.

Thanks to the massive drop in the value of used cars even and part time petrol station assistant can have a fairly new piece of technology to drive about in.

Consequently all the prized sheds that people lovingly laboured on to keep them roadworthy (ish) are now on the scrapheap where they belong cos they were long ast their sell by and bloody dangerous.

If the stupid murder death kill partnership scum had been smothered at birth then all the figures would have come down by the same percentage, or at least order of magnitude.

Conclusion: tell the engineers to solve the problem and wait for them to do it. Do not under any circumstances let over emotional substance addicted sandalist form partneships, or brother or sisterhoods or anything of any consequence.

Now if an idiot like me can see this from 100 miles away all the murder death kill parnerships should be on trial for murder because they knew this, months ago yet have continued with state sponsored murder because the alternative is no paycheque next month. What a bloody shameful society we live in, bring back the birch and the stocks.

[CarZee]

how's your ticker these days, dear boy?

As for the "prized sheds that people lovingly laboured on".. you know how many would put a 965 in that category.. be careful.

[nonegreen]

CarZee said:

how's your ticker these days, dear boy? As for the "prized sheds that people lovingly laboured on".. you know how many would put a 965 in that category.. be careful.

Ticker is banging away fine thanks youngster. How old are you now? The old arteries must be getting a bit furred up by now surely? Make sure you get plenty of exercise and 5 portions of fruit or veg per day.

Metal cars must be safer than plastic leaky ones even if they are new. :flameproofjacketon:

[UK952]

Is road safety improving? - NO!

The figures claimed by the government are nothing to do with the safety of cars or the numbers dying should also be falling.

KSI is the dodgy accounting used by scamera partnerships and government to cover failings.
What is a serious injury? a broken nail? a precautionary trip to hospital, 10 weeks in a coma?
There is no fixed definition.

More people are dying - the deaths have been a falling trend for many years, now they are static or rising despite safer cars.

Speed kills policy doesn't work, faster drivers are not necesarily more dangerous. The roads are overloaded, falling apart and suffering low grip levels
and in places poor engineering.

The few (overcrowded) motorway routes are forcing drivers on to more dangerous local roads.

The money we pay to upkeep the roads is being wasted on trains that will never replace the car for 95% of the population - apart from the inconvenience of rail travel the gauge is too narrow to make it fast / comfortable (compare a 50's car (upright & narrow) to a modern one (lower and wide) and you will see the problem.

Tony
Disgusted anyone can claim success for current road policy.