There were significantly fewer accidents on South Gloucestershire’s roads in 2017 than the previous year, according to the latest data available.
The figures are obtained from police accident reports which show the total casualty figure for 2017 was 447, which is a 22 per cent reduction on the 2016 figure of 571. This also highlights a historical low in the numbers since South Gloucestershire became a unitary authority in 1996.
The total number of fatal casualties on the district’s roads was eight, serious casualties, 34, slight casualties, 405 which takes the total figure to 447.
Cllr Colin Hunt, Cabinet member responsible for transport, welcomed the news: “It’s great to see that casualty rates have reduced, making South Gloucestershire’s roads some of the safest in the country.
“The council takes road safety extremely seriously and we work closely with our partners in the police, with schools and with other agencies to identify where and why road accidents happen and what can be done to prevent them.
“However, we cannot afford to become complacent. Eight fatalities is eight fatalities too many, and the council will continue to make every effort to deliver road safety training to raise awareness about this issue.”
The council continually monitors police reports in order to identify where people are injured on South Gloucestershire’s road network, and who is involved.
This data is used to target spending on areas where injury accidents occur most often and on the most vulnerable road users such as children, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcycle riders. It is also used to monitor the effectiveness of these interventions.
Examples of recent road safety engineering interventions, based on accident monitoring figures, include:
- Traffic signal improvements at the A4017 Bromley Heath Road/ Cleeve Wood Road: five accidents in the three years before, two in the three years after
- No Entry sign treatment at A420 Homeapple Hill/Cann Lane means you can only come out of Cann Lane, not turn in to it: four accidents in the three years before, none in the three years after
- Reduced speed limit and lane removal at the A432 Cotswold Road, Chipping Sodbury: eight accidents in three years before, three in three years after
- Traffic calming and pedestrian crossing improvements at the B4464 St James Street/Cossham Street: nine accidents in three years before, three in three years after
- Traffic calming at Tenniscourt Road, Kingswood: five accidents in three years before, none in three years after
We also have a Road Safety Education, Training and Publicity team who actively deliver a wide range of education and training services to vulnerable road users who are most likely to be involved in accidents, such as children, cyclists and motorcycle riders.
Each year the team provides road safety training sessions to thousands of people throughout South Gloucestershire including Bikeability cycle training, pedestrian training, motorcycle training and more recently a driver refresher course for over 60s in Thornbury.
