Road deaths reach an all-time low

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There were 2,538 people killed on the roads in Britain in 2008 - the lowest annual total since records began in 1926.

The death toll was 14% down on the 2007 figure and compared with the highest post-war annual total of nearly 8,000 recorded in 1966.

Based on casualties in accidents reported to the police, the Department for Transport statistics show that 28,567 people were killed or seriously injured last year - 7% fewer than in 2007.

Total casualties - deaths, serious injuries and slight injuries - reached just under 231,000 in 2008, which was 7% down on the 2007 total.

The latest figures mean that the Government has reached its target of reducing by 40% by 2010 the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads, compared with the mid-1990s average.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: "Every death on the roads is a terrible tragedy, but these figures show that every day last year one less person died on the roads than in 2007 and that Britain now jointly has the safest roads of any major nation in the world.

"The 40% fall in deaths and serious injuries since the mid-1990s means more than 19,000 fewer deaths or serious injuries on our roads in a year, meeting a vital road safety target two years early."

However, as many as 58% of Britain's A-roads and 25% of motorways fail to rate as safe, a survey has revealed. Single-carriageway A-roads were rated as the most dangerous roads, said the Road Safety Foundation survey covering risk levels for the last nine years.

A 7.5 mile stretch of the A537 from Macclesfield in Cheshire to Buxton in Derbyshire remains one of Britain's most dangerous roads, with a 42% rise in the number of fatal and serious collisions since last year. The RSF said that of the 27 fatal and serious accidents on this stretch of road, 18 involved motorcyclists but Cheshire County Council's efforts to improve the safety of the road mean that when motorcyclists are excluded from the analysis, this stretch becomes one of Britain's safest roads.