Decline recorded in Newham road deaths

Road casualties were recorded on Newham’s roads at a rate of almost three a day last year.

But the number of people who died in the borough as a result of an accident was the lowest in six years.

There were 74 people killed or seriously injured in 2011, government figures have revealed, from a total of 908 casualties.

The decline comes despite cutbacks in road safety spending.

A Newham Council spokesman said more cash had been devoted to traffic management and road safety measures.

He said: “Through our engagement with schools, engineering measures have been put in place to make the routes to schools safer.

“Educational programmes are run to develop the road user skills of schoolchildren and there are school crossing patrols throughout the borough.

“Accidents in the borough are assessed to see if they have any common factors so we can look at what measures can be introduced.”

Last year’s killed or seriously injured figures are down on the 81 reported in 2010 and a high of 105 in 2007.

In London, the biggest increase came in Croydon, where they rose 25 per cent from 87 in 2010 to 109 in 2011. The biggest decrease was in Bexley, where they fell almost one third to 49 in 2011.

Simon Best, chief executive of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: “Cutting road safety education amd reductions in local authority spending all suggest that road safety isn’t a major priority for this government.

“We need targets on reducing road casualties for local councils so that performance can be checked.

“This would help make sure that councils look at new and innovative ways to save lives on our roads.”