Specialists at Road Safety Analysis have revealed how local road safety performance has differed across the country over the last five years.
This information is now available to the public and local authorities via an interactive mapping tool, or as a league table of results.
The results reveal that per head of population, casualty rates are four times higher in the Borough of Westminster, North Yorkshire and Powys than in areas such as Plymouth, East Dunbartonshire and Torfaen.
Analysis of casualties based on traffic rates highlight Lambeth, Blackpool and the Isle of Wight as performing up to five times worse than South Gloucestershire, West Berkshire and Newport.
The research is based on five years’ data during which time over 150,000 people have been Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI Casualties) on Great Britain’s roads.
The results are expressed as rates, depending on local traffic and population counts, enabling a more accurate comparison of risk to be made for the first time.
The Department for Transport states that these indicators have been, “designed to help Government, local organisations and citizens to monitor the progress towards improving road safety and decreasing the number of fatalities and seriously injured casualties on Great British roads”, and therefore this report marks the first step in this process.
Richard Owen, director of Road Safety Analysis said: “The results of this study show a worrying discrepancy between different parts of the country. Road users in some areas experience considerably higher risk from road traffic crashes than others who might be living just over the border.
"With the help of this sort of information, Local Authorities can develop a much better understanding of the risks experienced by their residents and road users, helping them to address the inequalities that many people are experiencing.”
For a copy of the full results including a breakdown visit http://www.roadsafetyanalysis.org/mapping/
