Motor accident claim road deaths over the past 12 months have decreased to under 2,000 for the first time, according to transport figures recently released by the Department for Transport.
Taking place from June 30th of this year to the same date in 2009, the reduction in the death rate from traffic accident claims has been a “tremendous” achievement, says Edmund King, president of AA.
Mr King stated that, in the year 2000, there were a grand total of 3,409 deaths from road accident claims. He added that the reduction of over nearly 1,000 deaths from their previous high of 2,946 to the current total of 1,990 since 2007 is quite an impressive feat. Mr King also stated that the recent reduction can be seen as a tribute to all the excellent work of those that have tried so hard to meet the 2010 targets the Government set at the turn of the last century.
Mr King concluded his statement by remarking that in order to galvanise road safety efforts for the next ten years and then some, the UK is in desperate need of a new target it can work toward meeting.
The only figure that worsened recently was a 1 per cent rise in deaths among cyclists; additionally the number of non-fatal casualties among cyclists also rose by 4 per cent as well.
Called a disturbing trend by industry experts, calls to action have ben made in order to ensure that both older cyclists who return to the road and younger cyclists begging to take to the road have the proper training available to them on how to be safer cyclists.
One particularly strong concern has been for those returning to their two-wheeler after a long absence. As these particular cyclists rely, often to their own detriment, on their childhood experience on a bicycle in addition to their experience as a motorist. Such experience simply does not equip a returning cyclist for riding on the roads of today.