More drivers make "fatal mistakes as road deaths rise
A Shropshire road safety education organisation says that more drivers are making “fatal mistakes” leading to an increase in deaths and serious injuries.
More drivers are making “fatal mistakes” leading to an increase in deaths and serious injuries despite the UK having one of the best safety records in the world, warned a Shropshire road safety education organisation.
Latest Department for Transport figures show that 30 more people died and 1,760 more were badly hurt for the 12 months up to June 2016, compared with the previous year.
A total of 24,620 people were killed and seriously injured, a rise of 3% compared to 22,830 in 2015. Fatalities for the year rose 2% to 1,800 compared with 1,770 in the corresponding 12 months for 2015.
The TTC Group, of Telford, provides training and education to more than 330,000 motorists each year through workshops for businesses and also to individuals offered an opportunity by police to benefit from education as part of the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) after minor road traffic offences and collisions.
TTC Director Alan Prosser says more people should consider regularly updating their driving skills and knowledge by reading the Highway Code, taking a refresher course or getting their employer to organise driver training as part of their risk management programme.
“Sadly people are making fatal mistakes on the road leading to unnecessary deaths and serious injuries which could and should be avoided if we all took more care on the roads.
“Driver error is regarded as a key factor which causes these collisions and drivers must take responsibility for their own safety, their passengers and all other road users to ensure we reduce these needless deaths and injuries.”
Businesses can also play their part in supporting road safety initiatives and make our roads safer, he said.
One in four collisions involves a driver on company business with not enough organisations taking steps to protect their employees, he claimed.
“Training and education can play a significant role in reducing risk. It should not be the case of passing your test at 17 and never, ever, taking positive actions to continue developing our skill set,” said Mr Prosser, whose organisation has been educating drivers for more than 20 years to reduce casualties.
