Increase in people being killed or seriously injured in road accidents in Warwickshire

Department for Transport data shows 38 people were killed and 314 people seriously injured on Warwickshire’s roads in 2017.

Two children were killed in accidents, and 22 were taken to hospital. The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured has increased from 303, the yearly average from 2010 to 2014, to 352 last year.

RAC road safety spokesman, Pete Williams, said: “This new data makes for sobering reading – there has now been no substantial reduction in fatalities since 2010, with the numbers killed on the roads remaining stubbornly high.”

In Warwickshire, five pedestrians were killed and two cyclists. Of those seriously injured, 42 were pedestrians, 39 were cyclists and 62 were riding motorbikes.

Mr Williams continued: “Speed limit compliance also remains a real problem, with more than half of vehicles recorded speeding on 30mph roads and nearly one in five drivers travelling at 30mph or more in a 20mph zone.

“With traffic levels rising, and people’s dependency on the car also increasing, a shift in focus is needed at both national and local levels to begin to tackle the problem.

“On a day-to-day basis, it is every driver’s responsibility to ensure they are driving safely by not breaking speed limits and reducing distractions in their vehicles so their attention remains firmly on the road.”

Warwickshire’s casualty rate is greater than the West Midlands’s average.

It is also higher than the England casualty rate.

The road safety charity Brake called on the Government to lower speed limits.

A spokesman said: “Our most vulnerable road users, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, remain at dangerously high risk on our roads, paying the price for the dominance of the car in our lives.

“Pedestrian deaths increased to their highest level this decade whilst motorcyclists now account for nearly a fifth of all road deaths, despite their small numbers.

“The Government must invest in active travel to give people safe and healthy ways to get around and focus on improving the safety of our roads – starting with lower speed limits.”