Latest Road Casualty figures

The Standard publishes the latest road casualty figures.

Overall, KSI (killed or seriously injured) were down. However, there are winners and losers:

The biggest dip in KSIs this spring was for car users, with the number killed or seriously injured falling 12%.

Total child pedestrian casualties rose 2%, and for cyclists KSIs rose 5% to 850 and total casualties were up 5%.

In other words, the roads are getting safer for the road users posing the greatest danger, but more dangerous for the most vulnerable groups. You'll notice I said "groups". For individual cyclists, the risk per mile cycled may be going down, because modal share is arguably going up. However, this may only be true on major routes where there is a 'safety in numbers' effect. One thing is for sure though: your average motorist can put their foot down and use their handheld phone secure in the knowledge that the safety equipment fitted to modern cars will likely save them from self-inflicted injury.

It's time to get angry. It's disgraceful that the Government is allowing child pedestrian casualties to rise. More kids are injured on the roads than by knife crime, yet the police in many cases refuse to act against dangerous driving or devote resources to enforcing the law, and even when they do secure a conviction, the penalties on offer are often little more than an insult to the victim.