Road Safety Figures Alarming
While the headline road safety figures are still a tragedy for the victims and their families and friends, a death toll of 1901 in 2012 is in stark contrast to the 5217 killed in 1990. A death rate of 1,901 means that on average 5.2 people per day die on Britain's roads. When I first got involved in road safety in 1987 the figure was around 15 people per day. That's the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people crashing with no survivors, once a month.
1987 was also the year that the Government set casualty reduction targets which was that road casualties should drop by one-third by the year 2000 in comparison to the average numbers for the years 1981€"85. The target was exceeded, with the number of fatalities dropping by 39% and the number of serious injuries dropping by 45% over that period. For once a government target was actually exceeded, with unknown benefits to the people who are still alive.
So what's changed? Leaving out the subject of driver training and education, engineering, technology and medical skills have all played their part. Airbags, crumple zones, braking systems, electronic stability programmes and so on have all helped In the avoidance of collisions in the first place and survival afterwards. Traffic density has slowed down the average speed of moving traffic particularly in urban areas. You're more likely to get killed on an A road in Norfolk than you are on in a town centre where speeds are slower. Road building has also helped. There are more dual carriageways now particularly since the road building boom of the early 1990's. Dual carriageways and motorways are safer to drive on than A and B roads.
Then there is the €golden hour€. A seriously injured driver now has a better chance of survival because paramedics will treat them at the scene of the accident. They have the skills and the equipment on site and to stabilise the patient. Thirty years ago you would have been dragged out of the car and rushed by ambulance to the nearest ER. These days they bring the ER to the driver. Emergency services also have good statistics on where and when an accident is likely to happen e.g. somewhere between junction 13 and 15 on the northbound M6 on a Friday evening. That's why you see ambulances parked on motorway bridges, because based on statistical evidence, there is a better than average chance of it all going wrong in that vicinity. Parking the ambulance there can shave vital life saving minutes off their response time. The more treatment you get in the first hour after a serious injury, the better your chance of survival.
Despite all that, we are still killing five people per day. It's a lot better but that's no consolation for the five families who will be affected today, tomorrow and the day after.
1987 was also the year that the Government set casualty reduction targets which was that road casualties should drop by one-third by the year 2000 in comparison to the average numbers for the years 1981€"85. The target was exceeded, with the number of fatalities dropping by 39% and the number of serious injuries dropping by 45% over that period. For once a government target was actually exceeded, with unknown benefits to the people who are still alive.
So what's changed? Leaving out the subject of driver training and education, engineering, technology and medical skills have all played their part. Airbags, crumple zones, braking systems, electronic stability programmes and so on have all helped In the avoidance of collisions in the first place and survival afterwards. Traffic density has slowed down the average speed of moving traffic particularly in urban areas. You're more likely to get killed on an A road in Norfolk than you are on in a town centre where speeds are slower. Road building has also helped. There are more dual carriageways now particularly since the road building boom of the early 1990's. Dual carriageways and motorways are safer to drive on than A and B roads.
Then there is the €golden hour€. A seriously injured driver now has a better chance of survival because paramedics will treat them at the scene of the accident. They have the skills and the equipment on site and to stabilise the patient. Thirty years ago you would have been dragged out of the car and rushed by ambulance to the nearest ER. These days they bring the ER to the driver. Emergency services also have good statistics on where and when an accident is likely to happen e.g. somewhere between junction 13 and 15 on the northbound M6 on a Friday evening. That's why you see ambulances parked on motorway bridges, because based on statistical evidence, there is a better than average chance of it all going wrong in that vicinity. Parking the ambulance there can shave vital life saving minutes off their response time. The more treatment you get in the first hour after a serious injury, the better your chance of survival.
Despite all that, we are still killing five people per day. It's a lot better but that's no consolation for the five families who will be affected today, tomorrow and the day after.