Scrutiny group to look at ways to make county's roads safer

A plan has been drawn up for areas for the group to focus on, and it will then report back to Shropshire Council's performance management scrutiny committee in March next year.

The news comes after it was revealed that more people are being killed or seriously injured in road accidents in the county, despite a drop in overall road casualties.

Department for Transport data shows 18 people were killed and 162 people seriously injured on Shropshire's roads in 2017.

One child was killed in an accident, and nine were taken to hospital.

The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured has increased from 130, the yearly average from 2010 to 2014, to 180 last year.

Now a task and finish group will identify ways to improve road safety, as well as scrutinise the effectiveness of any proposed approaches, including 20's plenty.

The group may also identify new means to fund road safety schemes.

A report set to go to the performance management scrutiny committee next week outlines a work programme for the group.

It says: "A failure to ensure effective road safety could result in a higher number of injuries and fatalities resulting from road traffic collisions. A fear of road danger may result in people choosing to walk or cycle less, resulting in poorer health outcomes."

The report adds that between 2013 and 2016 there were an average of 600 road traffic collisions in Shropshire.

In 2016 75 per cent of these collisions resulted in slight injuries, 22 per cent resulted in serious injury and three per cent in fatality.

"Although collision rates are lower than in similar rural authorities, the proportion of collisions resulting in fatalities is somewhat higher," the report says.

There is a "significant variation in risk" depending on travel mode. According to the report, 69 per cent of all casualties and 50 per cent per cent of those killed or seriously injured in collisions are car users. However car users constitute 87 per cent of all road travel, making it the safest mode of travel. But less than one per cent of all kilometres travelled are by motorcycle, but 10 per cent of all casualties, 23 per cent of KSIs, and 24 per cent of fatalities are motorcyclists.

Similarly, about five per cent of all travel is by foot, but pedestrians make up nine per cent of all casualties and 15 per cent of people killed or seriously injured.

The group will seek to answer how Shropshire Council and its partners work together to make it safer to travel in Shropshire, and will look a number of objectives to do so.