§ Sir David PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his latest estimate of the number of British people who die each year from road accidents; and what are the Government's plans to reduce that number.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyOver 5,000 people are needlessly killed on our roads each year. Two years ago we set a target of reducing the number of casualties by a third by the year 2000. We are on course for doing so. We are now saving over 550 lives a year compared with the position two years ago, even though traffic has increased greatly.
A total of 75 per cent. of casualties occur on local roads. At a meeting with local authority political leaders today we reviewed our commitment to joint action to reduce casualties. We agreed that casualty reduction targets would in future be set at local and regional level, and we endorsed a package of measures to increase the number of low cost road engineering schemes which are so effective in saving lives.
This will give a fresh impetus to efforts to reduce the number of people killed and injured.