Road Safety - What's the Problem?

Each year in Britain around 3,500 people are killed and about 40,000 seriously injured.

Added to this some 280,000 people were slightly injured along with a massive number of unreported damage only crashes.

Apart from the human suffering and grief this represents the government estimates that the cost to the taxpayer as a result of this is around £12,170 million.

Although Britain has a relatively good accident record compared to other countries, and there is a continuing downward trend, there is however no room for complacency. We know that that we can reduce the road casualties still further.

In order to focus the efforts on casualty reduction, the Government has set targets to be achieved by 2010. These are as follows: –

• A 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road crashes.

• A 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured.

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

The Government's strategy for achieving these targets is set out in the document 'Tomorrow's Roads – Safer for Everyone'.

In addition to the Government's strategy, there is a statutory duty placed on local authorities to promote Road Safety. North Lanarkshire Council has accepted the Government's targets and is committed to achieving or bettering them. The Council has set out it's own strategy in the document Delivering in Partnership – A Transport Strategy for North Lanarkshire.

The progress towards meeting the targets in North Lanarkshire is measured on a quarterly basis against information collected by Strathclyde Police at the scene of a crash. Trends in North Lanarkshire can be compared to the overall trends in Scotland and also with other local authorities.

• Create a greater awareness of the extent of the Road Safety problem both at national and local level.

• Highlight the commitment of North Lanarkshire Council in addressing the problem of road crashes and in partnership with other agencies seek to meet the Government's Road Safety targets.

• Provide information and offer resources to anyone with an interest in teaching road safety to others – particularly children.

• Provide a forum for debate and an exchange of ideas on Road Safety issues.

• Make information available on a wide range of Road Safety issues by giving links to other web sites.