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In 2004,  3,221 people died in road accidents in Britain, down 287 or 8% on the figures from 2003 when 3,508 people were killed. This is despite an estimated increase in road traffic of 2 per cent in 2004.
  
Road safety Minister Stephen Ladyman said:
  

"The figures released today are very encouraging, with a substantial drop in the number of people who died on Britain's roads. However, one year's figures should not make anyone feel complacent. Nearly 9 people a day still died in road accidents last year and that figure is still too high.
  
"Britain has one of the best road safety records in the world and the Government is committed to improving it further. We are currently taking a Road Safety Bill through Parliament which contains a raft of measures to build on the progress we are making. The Government will continue to highlight the importance of road safety and to remind all road users of their responsibilities to themselves and others."

The Government has targets for reducing casualties by 2010. We want to see:

• 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents compared with the average for 1994-98;
    

• 50 per cent reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured;
    

• 10 per cent reduction in the slight casualty rate, expressed as the number of people slightly injured per 100 million vehicle kilometres.

Against these targets, the figures for casualties in 2004 indicate that:

• the number of people killed or seriously injured was 28 per cent below the baseline;
    

• the number of children killed or seriously injured was 43 per cent below the baseline;
    

• the provisional estimate of the rate of slight casualties per 100 million vehicle kilometres was 20 per cent below the 1994-98 average.

Source: Department for Transport News Release 2005/0075

 DSA Comments   Britain has had the hard-earned delight of being the safest developed country in the world -- in terms of per capita road death rates -- in 9 of the last 17 years (i.e. 1988-2004, inclusive) and was in a close second or occasionally third place in the other years, and this is a record that no other country can match. (See the above link for 50 countries.) 

     Our first comment, therefore, is one of congratulations to all of those in Britain who are involved in the many areas and levels of road safety.

     Our second comment is one of near-astonishment, because achieving a reduction of more than 8 per cent in the number of road deaths in just one year, when the country is already at such a comparatively low death rate, is quite remarkable!  It is a well known fact that once the main sources of casualty reduction, such as mandatory seatbelts and rigorous drunk-driving enforcement are in place it becomes much more difficult to achieve significant reductions in the annual death toll.

     Finally, to those countries -- including the USA -- that insist on merely targeting the deaths-by-total-mileage rate (more properly known as the Vehicle Miles Traveled or 'VMT' rate) we will be blunt and say:  WHY?

     Why worry about a rate (the 'VMT') that can actually conceal an increase in the number of actual deaths even when the said rate is falling?  In moral, ethical and professional terms the only good target is surely that of reducing the actual numbers of people killed and injured each year, not just paying lip service to the carnage by focusing on misleading figures.

     Many developed countries have set challenging targets to reduce the actual numbers of people killed each year in road crashes, and in our opinion this is the only acceptable route for such countries to take.

Eddie Wren, Executive Director, Drive and Stay Alive, Inc.

Footnotes

A fuller breakdown of road casualties for 2004 was published by the DfT today and is available at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/page/dft_transstats_038553.hcsp
  
Details of the Road Safety Bill, introduced into the House of Lords on 25 May, are available at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_033679.hcsp

  
See also:
  

Traffic in Sweden, the U.K. and the Netherlands is the Safest in the World  (from SWOV, June 2004)

Drive and Stay Alive, Inc., has published a table showing the numbers of road deaths and per capita death rates for over 50 countries, for 2003 (and some for 2004). It is viewable here.

International Road-Crash Fatality Rates, 1988-2002  (based on OECD/IRTAD figures)