Skip to main content

Fewer UK pedestrians killed as drivers stop speeding

Latest road safety figures from the UK Department for Transport (DfT) show that compliance with 30mph (48km/h) urban speed limits continues to improve while pedestrian fatality levels are falling.
April 19, 2012 Read time: 1 min
RSSLatest road safety figures from the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) show that compliance with 30mph (48km/h) urban speed limits continues to improve while pedestrian fatality levels are falling.

In 1998, 69 per cent of cars were driven faster than the limit in 30mph zones in free-flow conditions: by 2010 this had dropped to 46 per cent. Those exceeding 40 mph in a 30mph limit has halved since 2003, now down to 16 per cent. At the same time, traffic levels are declining on all types of road, a trend observed from 2006 onwards.

Pedestrian fatalities have also reduced significantly, down 40 per cent since 2005 from 671 to 405. Ninety-six per cent of pedestrian accidents happen on urban roads.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Open road tolling: safer with less congestion
    January 30, 2012
    Michael J. Davis of PBS&J looks at the positive effect that open road tolling can have on safety
  • Include ITS in policy decisions from the start, not as an afterthought
    February 1, 2012
    DG TREN's Fotis Karamitsos, on why the European Commission's new ITS Action Plan is looking to the past for future direction. The European Commission's (EC's) new Action Plan for the Deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe, which was announced as 2008 drew to a close, intends that transport and travel become 'cleaner; more efficient, including energy efficient; and safer and more secure'. At first sight, that wording might be interpreted as marking a significant policy shift within Europe, wit
  • Paths to cleaner, more secure US transportation solutions – Pew report
    May 18, 2012
    A new report released by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change examines cost-effective solutions to begin to cut US transportation emissions and oil use now and move toward cleaner, alternative fuels. From burning oil, transportation accounts for more than one-fourth of all US GHG emissions. The report, Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from US Transportation, identifies reasonable actions across three fronts – technology, policy, and consumer behaviour – that could deliver up to a 65 per cent reduction i
  • Hard shoulder running aids uniform traffic flow and safer driving
    January 23, 2012
    David Crawford detects a market for European experience. Well-established now in at least three European countries, Hard Shoulder Running (HSR) on motorways is exciting growing interest in the US. A November 2010 Report to Congress by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), on the Efficient Use of Highway Capacity, notes the role of HSR in the European-style Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies now being recommended for implementation in the US where, until recently, they were virtually unknown.