Safer Cars play a big role in casualty reduction - but much more needs to be done to improve rural roads

2 March 2010

We are now beginning to see the benefits of newer, safer cars on our roads.

In its Car users accounted for 50% of the fatalities in 2008, but travelled 84% of passenger miles. This and many other useful facts are now available in the latest edition of the RUA published Road File is now available on the association’s newly launched web site.

The file shows that the risk to a car user of being killed or seriously injured has fallen by 46% since 1998, the risk to a motorcyclist has been reduced by 23% but account for one fifth of the total fatalities despite comprising just 1% of traffic. Turning to the roads themselves it points out that 60% of all fatalities occur on rural roads, which carry just over 40% of traffic.

RoadSafe is delighted that, as it develops its strategy for the next ten years DfT acknowledges these facts.