Fewer Road Accidents Means Less Personal Injuries

It has been revealed that the number of motorists how have been killed or received personal injuries on Britain's roads are continuing to fall.

New statistics displayed that there was a 14% drop in the number of fatalities in road accidents during 2008.

This has beaten the 2007 dip in road tragedies. For the first time in forty years, road deaths and injuries have taken an all time low to 2,538.

It is unclear why road injuries have reduced so much. Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation said: "What is not immediately clear is why such a fall has been achieved now."

One explanation could be the drop in traffic on the roads. Figures show that traffic travelled 4.1 billion fewer kilometres in 2008. This is the first fall since 1979, although there has still been an 11% rise over the decade from 1998.

Added to this, is the fact that vehicles are travelling slower, especially in built-up areas. A decade ago, 69% of cars travelled in excess of the 30mph limit, but by 2008, this fell to less than half.

In total, there were 170,500 crashes involving personal injury reported to the police in 2008, 6% less than in 2007. Of these, 25,457 accidents involved death or severe injury.

Kevin Clinton, RoSPA's head of road safety, said: "This new record low shows that the fall in road deaths in a trend, not a statistical blip."

However, it is thought that car drivers were still the most vulnerable on UK roads, with 1,257 dying in 2008.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has warned against complacency. Neil Greig, its director of policy and research said: "The challenge for the Government is to provide a safe and modern road network and for motorists to take more responsibility for their safety by treating driving as a skill for life."

Government’s plan of action

Nine years ago, the Government's road safety plan set rigorous aims for reducing road casualties.

The scheme ends this year, with the latest figures confirming the targets have been met and even surpassed.

The targets looked at a wide range of criterias to be met such as a 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured. This aim has been exceeded, as there has been a 59% drop in such accidents.

Another target looked at a 40% decline in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents. The reduction of people slightly injured has also exceeded from 10% to 36%.

Another key area to car accidents, is focusing on ways to investigate unreported road collisions.

Research has shown that a large amount of non-fatal injury accidents go unreported. In addition, those that are reported go unrecorded and the seriousness of the injury underestimated. Therefore, ways to reform this system are being looked at.