Organisation: Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS)
Date uploaded: 18 November 2020
Date published: November 2020
This report urges the Government to adopt a new style of casualty analysis which highlights the road users that most put others’ lives at risk, and those who rarely kill others.
The report says DfT data ‘can tie even the most seasoned road safety professional in knots’ – and can be open to ‘misunderstanding’, which in turn can lead to ‘poor policy decisions’.
The report uses simple graphics and charts to highlight the overall risks involved with different modes of transport, including the risks posed to others.
The analysis shows pedestrians and cyclists ‘rarely kill other road users’ while motor vehicles do, ‘in large numbers’. It also shows that road users are much more likely to be killed in a car, or by a car, than any other mode.
For every 100 pedestrians killed:
• 65 deaths involved a car
• 11 involved a lorry
• Seven involved a van
• Six involved a bus
Meanwhile, for every 100 cyclists killed:
• 48 deaths involved a car
• 12 involved a lorry
• Seven involved a van
• 14 involved no other vehicle
PACTS is calling for the DfT to include this form of analysis in future publications – particularly in light of current investment in healthy, sustainable and active modes of travel.
Read the full report on the PACTS’ website:
https://www.pacts.org.uk/2020/11/pacts-report-what-kills-most-on-the-roads/