IAM welcomes report – with reservations

Commenting on the Road Casualties Report, Institute of Advanced Motorists director of policy of research Neil Greig said: “We welcome the overall decrease in road deaths although the long term trends show improvements are slowing down.”

However, there have been increases in the following areas:

• Fatalities on motorways increased by 14 per cent from 88 to 100
• Vans and LGV fatalities increased by 12 per cent from 33 to 37
• Motorcycle fatalities on motorways increased by 250 per cent from 4 to 14
• Child pedestrian fatalities increased by 30 per cent from 20 to 26
• Killed and serious injuries for all road users in deprived areas increased by 5 per cent

Greig continued: “It’s worrying that motorways have seen an increase in deaths, which is only partly explained by the increase in traffic on them – it is vital the government keeps a close eye on these figures as the Highway Agency rolls out its programme of wide-spread hard-shoulder running as opposed to proper motorway widening.

“The problem of death and serious injury among motorcycle riders remains and we want to see more use of training opportunities and partnerships to improve both skills and attitudes.

“Driver error was once again the top cause of crashes and the IAM believe that its courses can help reduce this figure but we need the partnership of the insurance industry and the government to help us deliver better drivers and riders.”