Road deaths on the increase (From Gazette Series)

Road deaths on the increase

DEATHS caused by road traffic accidents in Gloucestershire have rocketed by 68 percent, according to new county council figures.

A report released this week by the council's road safety team reveals that fatalities in road traffic accidents across the county increased from 19 to 32 in just 12 months.

The total of injuries suffered on the roads, whether fatal, serious or slight, also increased this year, from 1,227 last year to 1,303, the highest since 2001 when it reached 1,351.

Garry Handley, road safety team leader at Gloucestershire County Council, is concerned about the figures, particularly the fatalities.

"Sixty-eight percent is an enormous amount and shows that something needs to be done to improve road safety," he told the Gazette.

The report, due to be discussed later this month by county and district council representatives, looks in detail at road traffic accidents between January and June of this year and compares the findings to the same period over the last five years.

Separate figures are also provided for accidents in the Stroud district, which includes Berkeley, Wotton-under-Edge and Dursley.

The Stroud figures show four deaths between January and June this year, equalling those of the same period last year, but Mr Handley says this status quo is not good enough.

"We are never pleased about casualty figures because there are real people behind these figures," he said. "We are aiming for a significant reduction."

One significant increase in the Stroud figures was in the number of slight injuries suffered on the roads.

These increased from 170 last year to 199 this year, a jump of 17 per cent but modern trends are blamed for this.

Cllr John Cordwell, who chairs the Stroud Road Safety Liaison Group meeting, said: "We are up on slight injuries but that is because more people are reporting them for insurance purposes.

"We are extremely disappointed with the overall fatality results but we have reached the point where getting the figures, any of the figures in fact, any lower is proving difficult.

"We need to work at getting the safety message across. Young drivers, speeding and the use of mobile phones are real problems we need to address."

The county council's road safety team is heading a complete package of measures that will educate, train and, it hopes, make people more aware of their personal responsibility when driving.

Mr Handley said: "It's about working together. With road safety you don't do it to people you do it with people."

The report will be discussed at a meeting of the Stroud Road Safety Liaison Group on Monday, October 31 (2.30pm) in the Meeting Room, Long Block 1 at Stroud District Council, Ebley Mill.