Fall In Road Casualties

A recent report on road casualty figures for 2004 has shown that the number of casualties on our roads annually has fallen for the tenth successive year. The news of a fall in road casualties has pleased the government and the police dramatically. They suggest that this is great news for the motoring community with many different things contributing to the drop in figures.

The fall in casualties has been attributed to:

Speed cameras - It is believed that a lot of the credit for a fall in the casualties on the UK roads can be attributed to the steady addition of speed camera to the roads. The government believe that the addition of these speed cameras has lead to a reduction of speed by cars on the road that can be associated with accident, injury and costly car insurance claims.

Car Design - Another factor is believed to be that the safety tests for new cars on the road have been developed over the past years. These developments have lead to airbags and better general car structure that helps avoid injury in the event of an accident.

Advertising Campaigns - Advertising campaigns have also helped in the reduction of road casualties. These advertising campaigns have stressed the need to buckle up when driving, use hands free calling when driving and being aware of vulnerable road users.

Driver Education - Driver education has not only come from the advertising campaigns mentioned previously but also directly from the police. This education has come from lectures when stopped and the addition of penalty points to your licence which can help to raise performance car insurance but also awareness of what the driver is doing is wrong. The fact that the driving test has changed over the past few years has also had a major impact with a learner driver having to complete hazard awareness and theory tests in addition to the practical exam.

This information has been welcomed by the motoring community but some experts believe that the factors mentioned previously may not help to keep road accidents down. They feel that car safety technology has reached a plateau and there will not be any revolutionary systems in the near future to help keep accidents down. These parties also believe that the government's trend towards reducing the amount of police on the road and policing them with cameras may also have a detrimental effect if it carries on.

In closing I think that the government deserves a pat on the back for the driver education and the advertising campaigns. However the increase of cameras on the road is not the answer for long term casualty reduction. More police officers to target offenders that cause the accidents in the first place such as drink drivers would surely be a better option.

The fact is that costs associated with motoring such as road tax and young driver car insurance are rising all the time. The addition of speed cameras to the road is angering the public with the addition of penalty points to driers licences and huge revenue being generated from fines.

Maybe the government would be better using a large sum of the money generated from road tax and speed cameras on police officers to police the roads more efficiently in an attempt to keep road casualties falling in future years.