WIREDGOV

Latest figures show a significant reduction in the number of casualties on Welsh roads, with 2017 seeing the lowest number of motorcycle casualties since comparable records began.

Welsh roads were also safer for children – with a 15 per cent decrease in casualties of those aged under 16, and a 16 per cent fall in young people casualties (aged 16 – 24) compared with 2016.

Overall, there was a 9.6 per cent fall in reported casualties on Welsh roads in 2017, with 6,194 road casualties reported by police forces in Wales.

There was a fall of 4.3 per cent, with 1,060 of casualties killed or seriously injured.

A further 5,134 had ‘slight’ injuries’, which is 10.6 per cent lower than the figure for 2016.

Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport Lee Waters recently said:

“As our highways become busier, we have to be aware that simply by law of averages, there will be more opportunities for accidents.

“When we published our Road Safety Framework in 2013, we set ourselves challenging targets to improve safety for road users.

“As these statistics show, we are making progress to reduce the number of people being killed or seriously injured on our roads, with the greatest reductions seen in the number of young people involved.

“However, they also highlight a disproportionate risk to pedestrians and cyclists. While we have made progress, we need to do more to make our roads safer for vulnerable users, so walking and cycling are normalised.

“We continue to support our partners to deliver the targets and actions set out in the Road Safety Framework and we will be announcing shortly which local authority schemes we will be supporting with £4m of road safety capital grant funding and £1.9m of road safety revenue funding in 2019/20.

“Our Safe Routes to Schools funding, which will provide £5 million for 2019/20, alongside the Active Travel grants, supports schemes that help to deliver increased levels of active travel among children travelling to school and in the wider community.”