Road safety watchdog slams 'dodgy' Government figures

The blast came as provisional Government figures showed the number of people killed in accidents involving drink-driving fell by 3 per cent last year.

The Safe Speed organisation today echoed the sentiments of the Statistics Commission which said that if it based its casualty figures on hospital statistics rather than police ones the Dft would "not be on track" to meet its targets.

Safe Speed founder Paul Smith said today's speed-contributory statistics showed that the "entire road safety policy has been based on dodgy data".

There were an estimated 560 drink-drive fatalities in 2005, while the total casualties in drink-drive accidents fell by an estimated 9 per cent, Government figures showed.

The Department for Transport (DfT) today also gave more details of total road casualties in Britain in 2005, having first released figures at the end of June this year.

There has been controversy over the figures in that statistics groups have pointed out that the DfT figures are based on police reports and not on hospital reports, with the DfT figures possibly indicating a lower casualty rate than is actually the case.

The statistics today showed that there were 3,201 people killed on Britain's roads last year - 1 per cent fewer than in 2004.

The number of people seriously injured last year fell 7 per cent to 28,954.

Total casualties - deaths, serious injuries and slight injuries - fell 3 per cent last year to 271,017.

A total of 141 children were killed on the roads in 2005 - 25 fewer (or 15 per cent down) on the 2004 total. The number of children killed or seriously injured fell by 11 per cent last year.

Total pedestrian casualties fell by 5 per cent between 2004 and 2005, and the number of killed or seriously injured pedestrians was down 5 per cent. A total of 12 per cent of all road accident casualties, and 21 per cent of those who died in road accidents, were pedestrians.

In 2005, the number of casualties among motorcycle users fell by 3 per cent and the number of deaths also fell by 3 per cent, to 569. Serious injuries were down 2 per cent.

Cyclist deaths rise

Pedal cyclist casualties fell from 16,648 in 2004 to 16,561, a drop of 1 per cent. The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured rose by 2 per cent overall to 2,360, and the number of fatalities increased 10 per cent - from 134 to 148.

The DfT also published today details of contributory factors to road accidents. These showed that exceeding the speed limit or going too fast for the conditions were reported as a contributory factor in 15 per cent of all accidents.

Speed or going too fast for conditions were a contributory factor in 26 per cent of fatal accidents.

Failure to look properly was the most frequently reported contributory factor and was involved in 32 per cent of all accidents. Five of the six most frequently reported contributory factors were some kind of driver or rider error or reaction.

For fatal accidents the most frequently reported contributory factor was loss of control, which was involved in 35 per cent of fatal accidents.

The Government is committed to reducing, by 2010, by 40 per cent the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents compared with the average for 1994-98, with a 50 per cent reduction target in the number of children killed or seriously injured and a 10 per cent reduction in slight injuries.

The DfT said today that in 2005 the number of people killed or seriously injured in accidents reported to the police was 33 per cent below the 1994-98 average; the number of children killed or seriously injured was 49 per cent below the 1994-98 average, and the slight casualty rate was 23 per cent below the 1994-98 average.

Mr Smith added: "Safe Speed has been pointing out for years that the concentration on speeding was a deadly mistake. The Department for Transport has been defending bad decisions and bad policy for years. Now it must stop. Speed cameras must be scrapped. Heads must roll."