UK road safety league table

Britain apparently heads the European road safety league but some areas of the country are safer than others, a new report reveals.

The study by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) breaks down crash statistics by region, exposing the shocking news that in some areas of the UK you’re twice as likely to be involved in a fatal accident as others.

The study looked at accident figures from 2009, recording the numbers of road fatalities per 100,000 people to create what’s been described by the IAM as a ‘safety league table’.

It reveals that with 3.6 casualties per 100,000 England’s roads are safer than those in Scotland or Wales, both of which have figures of 4.2 per 100,000. Shockingly Northern Ireland’s rate is 6.4 per 100,000.

That compares with just 2.8 per 100,000 in the safest region of England, the north east. The north west is the second safest region, with 3.4 deaths per 100,000.

The fact there are considerably lower levels of car ownership per head in the north of England would seem to be one contributory factor in the fact the roads there show fewer casualties.

But there’s clearly more to it than that, the crowded south east and south west only marginally behind despite much higher levels of car ownership per 1,000 members of the population.

And the most dangerous region in England is the east midlands, with 4.1 deaths per 100,000. All these figures pale compared with Northern Ireland though, a point not lost on the IAM’s Neil Greig.

“Bringing the worst areas in the UK up to the same level of the best would save many more lives and reduce serious injuries,” he says. “This should be a prime focus for central, devolved and local government road safety plans.”

REGION/FATALITIES PER 100,000 PEOPLE IN 2009

UK – 3.8

England – 3.6

Scotland – 4.2

Wales – 4.2

Northern Ireland – 6.4

BY REGION:

North East – 2.8

North West – 3.4

South East – 3.5

South West – 3.9

Yorks and Humberside – 3.9

West Midlands – 4.1

East of England – 4.1

East Midlands – 5.1

Source: IAM’s ‘Comparisons – England’s regions, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland’ (figures exclude London)