More Can Be Done To Cut Road Deaths

Road safety experts at the Local Authority Road Safety Officer’s Association (LARSOA) have welcomed the latest figures that show a reduction in the number of people killed on the UK’s roads, but have warned that more needs to be done to improve safety for motorists and other road users.

The figures from the Department for Transport show that 2,946 people were killed in 2007 – a reduction of 226 on the previous year. However, that still means that 8 people a day were killed on the UK’s roads.

Alan Kennedy, Vice Chair of LARSOA, said:

“The reduction in deaths on our roads shows the positive work being done by road safety professionals across the UK and this is also reflected in the reduction in the number of overall casualties.

“That said, even one life lost on our roads is one too many and we would call on the Government to look at providing greater investment in road safety activities to help us in the work that we are doing to further improve road safety for all of our country’s road users.”

Spokespeople from LARSOA are available for interview and further comment if required.

Please contact Peter Whelan or Kathryn Clapham at DTW for further information or to arrange interviews.

DTW: 01287 610404
Peter Whelan: 07983 288388
Kathryn Clapham: 07786 512833

ABOUT LARSOA

LARSOA is a national road safety organisation representing road safety officers (RSOs) employed in local government across the UK.

LARSOA represents 185 of the 200 eligible local authorities across the UK, assisting RSOs to fulfil their statutory role to reduce the number and severity of road casualties through education, training and publicity programmes.

LARSOA publishes an up-to-date round-up of road safety news from across the UK on its website www.larsoa.org.uk .

LARSOA also aims to influence national debate - government policy and action together with public opinion. The association works to achieve national recognition for road safety issues, commissions research into behaviour which contributes to road collisions and develops national road safety campaigns.

The association assists in identifying achievable national targets to reduce the number of collisions on the country's roads.