British roads are getting safer

The number of deaths in road accidents has halved since 2000, according to statistics from the Department for Transport, with 1,713 people killed on the road in 2013.

Recorded serious injuries are down by 43 per cent from 2000’s figure to 21,657, and 138,660 personal-injury road accidents of all severity were recorded in 2013. This is the lowest ever figure with the exception of 1926 and 1927 – 1926 being the first year in which British road casualties were recorded.

Numbers of truck drivers and passengers killed or injured are not recorded separately, but the total of occupants of all goods vehicles killed last year was 58: down 32 per cent from an average of 85 deaths recorded between 2005 and 2009, and four down on the 2012 total.

Total injuries of all categories to goods vehicle occupants were down two per cent on 2012’s figures to 5,734, and down 25 per cent on the 2005-2009 recorded average.

Ten occupants of buses and coaches died in 2013, nine per cent down on the previous year, and a reduction of 17 per cent of the 2005- 2009 average. Total bus and coach casualties fell to 4,873, seven per cent down on the previous year and 31 per cent down on the 2005-2009 average.

While cyclist deaths, particularly those involving large goods vehicles, attracted high media interest last year, the figures show that the actual number of cyclist fatalities in 2013 decreased by eight per cent from 2012’s figures to 109. This figure is 16 per cent down on the 2005-2009 average.

It appears that built-up roads are becoming safer, with an eight per cent fall in deaths to 718 in 2013. Deaths on rural roads increased by one per cent to 895, and motorway deaths rose by 14 per cent to 100 in 2013: the first increase since 2005, but still 42 per cent lower than the 2005-2009 average.