IAM RoadSmart concerned by lack of progress in road deaths – and calls for a new focus on driver behaviour

Posted on 27/09/18 |

IAM RoadSmart has expressed its disappointment in yet another year without progress in the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on the roads in the UK.

IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity, said that although cars are getting safer and there has been a step change in new road investment, careless human behaviour and increasing traffic levels are cancelling this out.

This morning (27 September) the Department of Transport announced that there was 1793 reported road deaths in 2017, an increase of 1 on 2016 (reference 1).

There were 24,831 people seriously injured in reported road traffic accidents in 2017 and 170,993 casualties of all severities.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart director of policy and research, said: “Although the number of casualties of all severities in reported road traffic accidents in 2017 is 6% lower than in 2016 and is the lowest level on record, the number of fatalities has increased, albeit by just 1.

“We appear to have reached a hard core of human behaviour related crashes that requires much more focus on driver training and quality if we are to make progress towards a long term vision of zero deaths on our roads. Road safety in the UK seems to be bumping along the floor with yet another year without real improvement in key fatal injury statistics.

“With seven years without progress it is clear that we have an increasingly complex picture of good news, such as safer cars and investment in new roads, being cancelled out by more traffic and a hard core of human behaviour issues that are the most difficult to tackle.

“Road safety is everyone’s responsibility and it is clear that working in partnership to promote it is the key to returning to long term downward trends. More incentives for post-test training, consistent enforcement of new motoring laws, accelerating the uptake of AEB (autonomous emergency braking) equipped cars and promoting best practice in driving for work are just a few examples of the quick gains that could be achieved.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Reference 1:

DfT ‘Reported Road Casualties Great Britain, annual report: 2017’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2017?utm_source=d323c6af-9a22-438d-8877-bcdc8fb0b4e4&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Further information from:

IAM RoadSmart press office – 020 8996 9777 – press.office@iam.org.uk

ISDN broadcast lines available

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/IAMRoadSmart

On Twitter: @IAMRoadSmart

IAM RoadSmart has a mission to make better drivers and riders in order to improve road safety, inspire confidence and make driving and riding enjoyable. It does this through a range of courses for all road users, from online assessments through to the advanced driving and riding tests. IAM RoadSmart is the trading name of all businesses operated by the UK’s largest road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and was formed in April 2016 combining the IAM, IAM Drive & Survive, PDS and IAM Driver Retraining Academy. The organisation has 92,000 members and campaigns on road safety on their behalf. At any one time there are over 7,000 drivers and riders actively engaged with IAM RoadSmart’s courses, from members of the public to company drivers, while our Driver Retraining Academy has helped 2,500 drivers to shorten their bans through education and support programmes.

To find out more about IAM RoadSmart commercial products and services visit the new website www.iamroadsmart.com/business

To find out more about IAM RoadSmart’s Driver Retraining Academy visit www.iamdra.org.uk

To find out the name of your own local IAM RoadSmart group please visit: https://wwwiamroadsmart.com/local-groups

ENDS ALL

IAM RoadSmart concerned by lack of progress in road deaths – and calls for a new focus on driver behaviour

We make better drivers and riders