Commenting on the 2017 road casualties report*, Edmund King, AA
president says; “One death on our roads is one too many, but real
progress in reducing road fatalities has stalled for far too
long.
“The number of deaths on our roads is similar to that seen in
2011, so more effort is clearly needed to improve safety across
the UK for all road users.
“As police forces move to more accurate and universal incident
recording systems, we will get a better understanding of levels
of serious injuries. However, with more than 24,500 serious
injuries occurring over the past 12 months, it is clear that more
action is needed.
“Back in 2010, the Coalition Government removed road safety
targets. We feel it is time to bring back a challenging target
and aim to reduce annual road deaths to zero within 10 years. We
should also improve driver education, police enforcement and
indeed engineering of some of our most dangerous roads.
“Earlier this month, a quarter (24%**) of AA members said that
wider use of CCTV to capture offences like mobile phone use and
tailgating would make the single biggest contribution to reducing
road deaths. A further 18% felt that hiring more police to target
driving offences was the answer.”
ends
Notes to editors
* https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743848/reported-road-casualties-annual-report-2017.pdf
** Populus received 20,569 responses from AA members to its
online poll between the 11th and 17th September
2018. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and
abides by its rules.
