New research published by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety shows that, further to recent reports regarding a fall in road safety in Suffolk, measures to reduce road safety incidents in Bury St Edmunds are showing improvements.
The latest statistics show a significant fall in resident casualties on the road, with a 20% reduction in all road casualties for Bury St Edmunds constituents, from 2009-2014. In particular, this period saw an almost 55% decrease in serious road casualties, from 57 incidents in 2009, to just 26 incidents in 2014.
This significant progress can be attributed to local road safety steps, with evidence showing a 28% faster national reduction rate in Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) incidents. As a result, Bury St Edmunds is ranked 25th top constituency in the country for efforts to reduce KSI incidents.
Nevertheless, concerns remain for the number of serious incidents in Bury St Edmunds. For figures show that the rate of KSI incidents is 7% higher than the regional average and 11% higher than the national rate.
In response to these latest figures, Jo Churchill MP said: “These statistics are very promising and show protection measures are delivering safer roads within our constituency. However, we still have some way to go in reducing the number of serious incidents on our roads. I want to see the progress made with measures to tackle overall road safety, targeted at reducing the number of serious incidents. That is why I have written to Police and Crime Commissioner, Tim Passmore and Cllr James Finch, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport to raise these figures and look into what efforts are being taken to reduce the number of serious incidents.”