Figures released by the Department for Transport showing an increase in the number of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads could be masking a far worse situation, according to Cardinus Risk Management.
Last year there were 1,901 deaths on UK roads, up 51 from 1,850 in 2010. Serious injuries rose by 513 from 24,510 to 25,023.
But John Davidge, head of fleet technical at Cardinus Risk Management, believes these figures could be just the tip of the iceberg and that the real numbers are much higher.
Davidge said: “We’re pretty sure we know about all the deaths on our roads but hospital figures alone reveal that there are injuries not reported to police, and therefore not in the stats. Despite all the hype about whiplash, there are genuine cases not felt until days later, which are seldom officially recorded.”
The Department for Transport reports 203,950 documented injuries on UK roads last year but John Davidge thinks there could be more than three times that number.
“An educated estimate is that there are around 700,000 injuries on UK roads yearly,” he said. “Even the official figures underline that there’s no room for complacency at any level but what none of the statistics measure is the individual level of grief attached to each of these incidents – potentially 700,000 families who have had lives changed, in some cases for ever.”
Business drivers spend more time on the road and are exposed to risks for longer than most drivers.
Helping drivers to avoid collisions likely to result in whiplash and educating drivers on the cyclist and pedestrian incident potential in urban areas are integral parts of Cardinus driver training programmes.
Login to comment
Comments
No comments have been made yet.