Traffic accident figures for 2013 revealed

by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM)

• Safety
• IAM
• RoadSafety
• AccidentFigures

Britain’s leading road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has revealed the local authority areas that have performed best and worst for reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on their roads last year.

The top three areas for reductions are Nottinghamshire, Tower Hamlets and Chester/Chester West; with some 98, 81 and 78 fewer people respectively killed or seriously injured on the roads in these local authority areas in 2013 compared to 2012.
Conversely the three worst performing areas are Lancashire, Kent and Norfolk. In Lancashire 72 more people were killed or seriously injured in 2013 compared to the previous year; in Kent it was 70 more and Norfolk 40 more.
The top ten best performing areas in Great Britain, according to statistics on reported casualties from the Department of Transport, are Nottinghamshire, Tower Hamlets, Chester/Chester West, Suffolk, Hackney, Staffordshire, Islington, Greenwich, Gloucestershire and Redbridge.
The bottom ten local authority areas consist of Lancashire, Kent, Norfolk, East Sussex, Cumbria, Rotherham, Wirral, Surrey, Worcester and Hampshire.
Simon Best, chief executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said:
“Figures will always vary from year to year but the wide variations do suggest that some councils are much better at putting measures in place that are having a marked difference in reducing the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on their roads."
“As the economy improves spending on road safety must be seen as a priority across the whole of the UK with clear strategies in place to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads. Even one death or injured person on our roads is one too many,”
The function of the  Institute of Advanced Motorists is to raise driving and riding standards and to this end it campaigns for increased on-road skills. The IAM also aims to inform and influence national and local government to keep road safety at the forefront of decision makers minds when they are deciding traffic policy.
It would be interesting to see how national speed limits and the application of the 20mph speed limit in some cities has affected the overall accident rate, considering the current debate about the introduction of the 20mph limit.
Any thoughts?: [email protected]