Number of deaths on roads rises in region

The number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads in the West Midlands and Staffordshire has gone up, with more than 1,200 incidents over the past 12 months, figures show.

But average speeds on the region's roads have barely risen over the past year according to official statistics. Figures from the Department for Transport reveal there were 997 severe casualties, including 62 deaths, in the West Midlands in the 12 months to the end of last month.

In the same period there were 277 major injuries with 43 deaths in Staffordshire.

For the previous 12 months there were 961 in the West Midlands, including 52 deaths, and 255 in Staffordshire including 36 deaths.

Nationally the number of people killed or seriously injured rose to 25,210, a one per cent increase compared to the year ending March 2011.

Councils in the West Midlands spent £405,087 on joint campaigns and maintaining speed cameras over the past year.

Councillor Tom Ansell, chairman of the West Midlands Road Safety Partnership Board, said: "It is a concern at a time when we are working very hard to bring the number of accidents down. I hope that these figures are a blip."

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "It is always disappointing when road deaths rise."

In other new figures from the DfT it was revealed that drivers in the West Midlands are reaching an average speed of 20.4mph, a drop of 0.1mph on last year.

In Staffordshire drivers can get up to an average of 29.2mph, which is a 0.3mph fall on 2011.

Sandwell has seen the biggest increase in average speeds, from 19.6mph to 19.9mph, while in Walsall the average dropped from 21.1mph to 20.7mph.

Dudley drivers saw speed increase by an average of 0.1mph to 19.2mph.

In Wolverhampton there has been no change as cars continue to reach an average of just 17.5mph.