Big drop in number of accident victims

The number of people killed or seriously injured in accidents on Staffordshire's roads took another significant drop according to latest figures.

The total of 316 for 2007 was a fall of 42 in the numbers killed or seriously injured in 2006, continuing the trend of an overall reduction over the last three years. The number of young people aged 16 to 25 years who have been killed or seriously injured has also decreased from 1,473 in 2006 to 1,411. In 2006 there were 32 under-16s killed or seriously injured which fell to 21 in 2007.

In Staffordshire the "severity ratio" which measures the percentage of all road traffic crashes that have led to someone being killed or seriously injured - the lower the ratio the fewer serious crashes there have been - was 7.4 per cent around half the national average of 14.7 per cent.

Staffordshire County Council cabinet member for road safety Councillor Carol Dean said: "The welcome improvement has been brought about through a combination of education, training and publicity initiatives put into place."

Efforts to reduce road casualties have included a continuing programme of road safety education in schools, initiatives such as Crash Investigation Project and Pass Plus Extra aimed at young people before and after taking their driving test and Ride it Right Routes and Bikesense for motorcyclists.

In a bid to make a real improvement to the number of young people involved in road crashes, the Young Drivers Coaching Programme will be launched in the next few weeks.

This includes the much publicised in-vehicle data recorder "black box" which can collect information on how well the car is being driven, the programme will build on the skills gained whilst learning to help keep young drivers safe when out on the roads.

"We are determined to keep working to drive down the casualties on our roads and these extremely encouraging figures give us hard evidence that the efforts made by the county council and its partner organisations are beginning to reap benefits.

"All too often we hear of road-related death or serious injury and the pain and distress of these incidents to friends and relatives of those involved is immeasurable."