Skip to main content

Road deaths still not reducing, says PACTS

The road casualty statistics for Great Britain just released by the Department for Transport (DfT) are worrying in a number of ways, says the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS). They show no reduction in drink-drive deaths since 2010 – remaining at 240 deaths a year and no reduction in total road deaths and a two per cent increase in serious casualties in the past 12 months (to 31 March 2016). Seven police forces, including the largest ones, Metropolitan and Greater Manchester
August 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The road casualty statistics for Great Britain just released by the 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) are worrying in a number of ways, says the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS).

They show no reduction in drink-drive deaths since 2010 – remaining at 240 deaths a year and no reduction in total road deaths and a two per cent increase in serious casualties in the past 12 months (to 31 March 2016).

Seven police forces, including the largest ones, Metropolitan and Greater Manchester, have not submitted casualty reports in time, forcing the DfT to estimate the figures for Quarter 1 of 2016.

Commenting on the figures, David Davies, executive director of PACTS said, “The Government is failing in its manifesto commitment to reduce the number of road users killed or seriously injured every year. There has been very little reduction in these figures since 2010. The number of deaths involving drink driving is stuck at 240 a year and the estimated total deaths in the past 12 months is only slightly lower than it was five years ago.

“We need to see stronger action on a range of fronts, particularly drink-driving which accounts for 13 per cent of all deaths.

“A separate issue that is becoming increasingly evident is the vulnerability of the entire casualty reporting system to lack of prioritisation by some police forces. The Home Office needs to make clear that accurate and timely reporting is essential.”

Related Content

  • November 21, 2024
    Acusensus cameras find more than 800 drivers using phones in five-week trial
    There were also 2,300 incidents of not wearing a seat belt
  • July 12, 2012
    Deaths up and road safety spending down in England
    Fifty local councils in England saw more than a ten per cent increase in killed and seriously injured (KSI) crash rates between 2010 and 2011, according to an Institute for Advanced Motorists (IAM) analysis of the new road accident figures. The biggest increases in KSI numbers were in St Helens – 62 per cent, Portsmouth – 57 per cent, Stoke on Trent – 57 per cent, and Coventry – 51 per cent. A further 76 councils saw increases in the KSI rate above the national average of two per cent.
  • March 14, 2025
    GHSA laments ‘staggering’ trend in US pedestrian deaths
    Drivers killed 3,304 pedestrians in the first half of 2024
  • September 9, 2015
    IAM calls for urgent action on pedestrian road injuries
    The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has revealed that nearly 18,000 pedestrians were injured in an incident involving a vehicle in the last full year with analysis available. The charity is calling for an even greater focus on pedestrian protection to make cars safer and raise awareness of the risks. The figures come from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by the IAM, Britain’s biggest independent road safety charity, asking for details of the most common pairs of contributory factors repo