Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made in trends in the number of people killed in road accidents in the UK since 2010.

The number of people killed in road accidents in the UK has fallen slightly since 2010, from 1,905 in 2010 to 1,860 in 2016. Prior to 2010 there were larger reductions in the numbers of people killed in road accidents in the UK (in 2000 3,580 people were killed, this reduced to 3,336 by 2005 and to 1,905 by 2010). Many other countries with good road safety records have also experienced a slow-down in the rate of casualty reduction since 2010.

In June the Government announced its intention to deliver a more strategic approach to preventing deaths and serious injuries on our roads. The Department for Transport has a two-year action plan to address four priority user groups: young people, rural road users, motorcyclists and older and more vulnerable users, according to a refreshed road safety strategy. The refreshed statement will be informed by early lessons from the new road collision investigation pilot - a £480,000 partnership between police forces and the RAC Foundation to trial an innovative approach to road collision investigation, carrying out more in-depth, qualitative analysis of the underlying causes of road safety incidents in order to get a better understanding of what is really causing collisions on UK roads.