Road deaths "lowest ever" but cyclist deaths rise
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has welcomed a fall in deaths on the road to the lowest number since records began, but raised concern at a rise in cyclist deaths. RoSPA is urging for greater provision in cyclist training, driver awareness and safer roads for cyclists following the publication of annual casualty statistics.
The provisional road casualty figures for Great Britain in 2012, published by the Department for Transport (DfT), show that overall road deaths fell by 8 per cent to 1,754 in 2012. This appears to show that the rise in road deaths in 2011 was not the start of a trend.
The DfT report highlights that unusually heavy rainfall in the spring and summer of 2012 probably led to less walking, cycling and motorcycling, which may be part of the reason for the fall in overall casualty figures.
However, despite this, the number of pedal cyclists killed rose by 10 per cent to 118 and the number of seriously injured cyclists rose, for the eighth year in a row, to 3,222. The increase in deaths was mainly among the young with the number of child cyclists killed doubling from six in 2011 to 13 in 2012, although the number seriously injured fell by a fifth. There were also increases in the number of child car passengers killed from 21 in 2011 to 27 in 2012.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, an accident prevention charity with a history stretching back nearly 100 years, said: “The good news of a large drop in road deaths in 2012 is marred by an increase in cyclist deaths, which occurred despite the poor weather in the main cycling seasons of spring and summer, which probably meant fewer cyclists were on the road. If the weather had been better, there may have been even more cyclists killed and injured.
“Even though road deaths in 2012 were at their lowest level since records began, we need to redouble our efforts to make sure that cyclist deaths and injuries are reduced as the popularity of cycling increases.
“The fact that most of the increase in cycling deaths was among child cyclists is particularly worrying. As well as increasing the provision of cyclist training and trying to make the roads safer for cyclists, we also need to hammer home the message to drivers to keep their speed down, watch out for cyclists and give them enough room on the road. “It is also vital to create a coherent safe network for cyclists by introducing the appropriate cycle lanes, linking quieter streets, developing routes alongside rivers, canals and through parks, and lowering speed limits.”
There were 61 children killed on the roads in 2012, one more than in 2011. The number of seriously injured children fell by six per cent to 2,211 in 2012. At 17,251, the overall number of child casualties (killed, seriously injured and slightly injured) dropped by 11 per cent between 2011 and 2012 and was the lowest total since records started in 1979. There were 420 pedestrian deaths in 2012, a fall of 7 per cent on the previous year, however the number of seriously injured pedestrians rose by 2 per cent to 5,559.
The number of motorcyclists killed fell by 9 per cent to 328 in 2012, while the number seriously injured decreased by 5 per cent to 5,000, but the report noted that motorcycle traffic also fell by 2 per cent during 2012.
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