Hit and run killers on the increase

Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) revealed ‘hit and run’ deaths are up over the last decade, motorcyclist deaths are continuing to rise and our child pedestrians are among the least safe in Western Europe.

The grim statistics are published in Road Casualties Great Britain 2006, the Government’s annual report on the death and injury toll on our roads. The report also revealed little progress made towards Government casualty reduction targets during 2006, with no more than a one per cent drop in fatalities or serious injuries on our roads.

Brake, the road safety charity, is calling for the Government to set its sights higher, following the example of Sweden’s ‘Vision Zero’ approach to casualty reduction and adopting zero tolerance of drivers’ risk-taking.

Other action being demanded by Brake includes:

tougher charges and penalties for ‘hit and run’ drivers, which can be brought regardless of whether their driving was ‘careless’ or ‘dangerous’ at the time of a crash;

investment in roads policing, to reverse the trend of falling numbers of dedicated traffic cops and ensure effective enforcement of road safety laws;

ring-fenced funding for road engineering measures such as 20mph zones, traffic-calming and plenty of safe pavements, cycle paths and pedestrian crossings, which help protect our kids when they use the roads on foot or bicyle;

a coherent programme of safety education for road users, from compulsory pedestrian training and road safety lessons in schools, to a more structured way of learning to drive and increased investment in effective publicity campaigns aimed at drivers.

However, the statistics did demonstrate the positive impact of new laws requiring older children to use appropriate child restraints in cars: the number of nine to 11 year-olds killed or seriously injured in cars fell by almost a third (31%), from 107 in 2005 to 74 in 2006.

Cathy Keeler, Brake’s Head of Campaigns, said: “The statistics make grim reading, with each one representing families torn apart and devastating injuries, occurring violently and without warning.

“The revelations on ‘hit and run’ drivers are particularly shocking. Although ‘hit and run’ cases feature daily in the media, it’s jaw-dropping to have statistics confirm that so many drivers show such a callous disregard for people they have left dying or injured in their wake.

“Overall progress in reducing death and injury rates is slowing and we need decisive Government action. Brake is calling for measures which have proven extremely effective in other countries, such as 20mph zones around schools and homes, lowering the drink-drive limit and introducing graduated driver licensing. It’s time we adopted a zero tolerance approach to risk-taking on roads and worked towards eliminating the tragic, needless deaths and injuries on our roads.”

‘Hit and run’ crashes
More than one in ten (11%) death and injury crashes involve a ‘hit and run’ driver, according to a table published by DfT in the report for the first time since 1994. In 2006, 21,006 crashes resulting in death and injury involved a ‘hit and run’ driver, compared to 18,357 in 1997.

‘Hit and run’ drivers are increasingly leaving people to die on the streets – drivers ran from 152 fatal crashes in 2006, an increase of 35% since 1997, when drivers ran from 113 fatal crashes.

Motorcyclists
Motorcyclist deaths are up 5%, from 549 in 2005 to 576 in 2006. They have risen by a third over the last decade and are continuing to rise fairly steadily. The gap between motorcyclist and car driver safety has also widened. Motorcyclists were 37 times as likely to be killed in a crash per mile driven/ridden as car drivers in 2006, while they were 33 times as likely to die in a crash per mile driven/ridden in 2005.

Children on foot
Child pedestrian deaths in Britain rose by 13%, from a low of 63 in 2005 to 71 in 2006, a figure released by DfT in June 2007. This appalling figure shows that we still have a long way to go to protect kids using roads in our communities. In fact, the report released today shows that in the UK, our child pedestrian death rate is the fifth worst in Western Europe - three times higher than Norway and Sweden, and twice as high as France and Denmark.

Children in cars
A third (31%) fewer nine to 11 year-olds were killed or seriously injured in cars in 2006, with figures dropping from 107 in 2005 to 74 in 2006. Significant Government publicity on the importance of this age group using appropriate child restraints and legislation requiring all under-11s (measuring less than 135cms in height) to use appropriate child restraints appears to have had a positive impact on the casualty figures.

Worryingly, greater numbers of younger children were killed and seriously injured in cars in 2006 than in 2005. The number of under-fives killed or seriously injured in cars rose 4%, from 118 in 2005 to 123 in 2006, while the number of five to eight year-olds killed or seriously injured in cars rose 5%, from 101 in 2005 to 106 in 2006.

Breath tests and drink-driving
Levels of breath testing carried out by police following injury road crashes remains low. While there are 17% fewer tests being carried out than in 1999, the failure rate has remained fairly constant suggesting that if more tests were carried out, more drink-drivers would be caught.

While drink-drive deaths increased from 1999 to 2004, they have now fallen for the second year in a row, from 580 in 2004, to 550 in 2005, to 540 in 2006. However, they are still significantly higher than the low of 460 achieved in 1998 and 1999.