Leeds on the right road to reduce injuries

The number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads in Leeds has fallen by almost half in just over a decade.

A total of 304 people were killed or seriously injured on the city’s roads in 2010, compared with an average of 554 from 1994-1998 – a drop of 45 per cent.

The number of children killed or seriously injured fell by 58 per cent from an average of 91 between 1994-98 to 38 in 2010.

Pedestrian deaths and serious injuries in the same period dropped by just over half –from 197 to 96 - and slight casualties in all categories fell from 75 to 45.

The results exceed government targets set in 2000 for road casualty reductions, which asked for a 40 per cent reduction in adults killed or seriously injured and a 50 per cent reduction in such incidents for children.

The reductions reflect a strategy by council road safety teams and highways engineers to prioritise work at known road injury hotspots.

The council has also increased the number of 20 mph zones in residential areas and introduced traffic calming measures, such as the new speed platforms in Armley Town Street.

Alongside these measures has also been a programme of road safety education in schools. Last year nearly 10,000 high school pupils from Leeds attended the SmartRisk Heroes roadshows. which are delivered by people who have themselves survived serious injuries.

The council is now working with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, West Yorkshire Police and NHS Leeds to develop a new road safety action plan. This will include priorities and strategies to cut casualties even more and set new targets for 2011 -2014.

Cllr Richard Lewis, executive member for city development, said:

“These improvements are the result of determination, vision and hard work by those involved. From analysing statistics to redesigning junctions and introducing lower speed limits everyone has played a part. The result has been that hundreds of lives have been saved and hundreds more saved from serious injury.

“ But every death or injury is one too many. Our challenge now is to work ever more closely with our partners to make our roads even safer and to reduce road injuries even further in the future.”


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For media enquiries, please contact;
Annie Goodyear Leeds City Council press office (0113) 2243937
Email: annie.goodyear@leeds.gov.uk