6 November 2006

Make every week road safety week

Over 5,000 people are injured on the UK's roads and over 600 killed or seriously injured every week which is why, in this Road Safety Week, LARSOA is calling on all road users to make every week one in which they take road safety seriously.

The Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association works all year round to drive home the road safety message to millions of UK road users.

In 2005 there were 5,211 casualties on the UK's roads each week - an annual total of 271,017. Each week 61 people died, an annual total of 3,201 and 618 were killed or seriously injured (32,155 for the year).*

This year's Road Safety Week (November 6 th - 12 th ) theme is Young Drivers as road accidents are the single biggest killer of 15-24 year olds. In 2005 in the UK 846 drivers, passengers and motorcyclists between 15 and 25 were killed and over 7,000 seriously injured.

Simon Ettinghausen, Chair of LARSOA, says: "This is a staggering amount of lives lost and lives seriously damaged by accidents on the road. It illustrates that all the road users in the UK need to realise their responsibility while out and about on the roads.

"We need to highlight the dangers every time a driver gets behind the wheel not just in Road Safety Week but every day of every week to appreciate the awful reality behind the figures. These numbers represent tragedy for thousands people who have to adjust to life without a loved one."

Also in 2005:

• 141 children were killed on the roads
• 3,472 children were killed or seriously injured
• 21% of those who died in road accidents were pedestrians
• Nearly two thirds of casualties were car occupants
• 28% of road traffic casualties are killed or hurt during the hours of darkness.

Statistics show that although only 13% of those who hold a driving licence are 25 or under, more than a quarter (29%) of drivers killed are in this age group.

David Frost, spokesman for LARSOA, adds: "This time of year is also a particularly dangerous time as 28% of all casualties occur during the hours of darkness. The clocks have been turned back an hour meaning large numbers of people are now travelling home from work and school in the dark at a time of day when they are more tired and consequently we see a rise in accidents throughout November. Not turning the clocks back could result in 450 fewer deaths and serious injuries on the UK's roads.

"We also know that young people are more likely to take risks behind the wheel and this is an area of road safety which must be prioritised by both the government and road safety officers around the country with education programmes."

Ends.

For media enquiries please call Alison Ferst on 01287 610404 or 07779 435794.

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.