Nearly 50 dead from fatal crashes in Black Country and Staffordshire in just one year
Almost 50 people died on our roads in the Black Country and Staffordshire in 2016.
Newly released figures from the Department for Transport show 48 people were killed in crashes in Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Staffordshire last year.
This was down from 53 the year before.
In Wolverhampton four people died on the roads in 2016.
They include Sean Williams, aged 13, who died after he was hit by a car on the A4124 Lakefield Road in Wednesfield on December 29.
Joshua Harvey, 23, of Griffiths Drive, Ashmore Park, Wednesfield, pleaded not guilty to causing his death by careless driving this month. He is due to stand trial later this year.
In Staffordshire, 23 people died on the roads. They include Frederick Dudley, who was knocked down as he crossed the A449 Stourbridge Road. The 90-year-old, from Bearnett Drive, Lower Penn, had got off a bus and was walking across the road when he was hit by a car estimated to be travelling up to 85mph.
It happened on November 25. The driver, Matthew Raybould, 27, of Buffrey Road, Dudley, was jailed for 18 weeks and banned from driving for a year.
The figures also showed the number of people seriously injured and slightly injured in each authority area.
In Wolverhampton in 2016, 79 people were seriously injured, with 612 slightly injured. In Dudley it was 115 and were seriously injured, 560, slightly injured, in Sandwell 123 people and were seriously injured, 696 people slightly injured, and in Walsall 81 and people seriously injured, 626 were affected. In slightly injured and Staffordshire it was 262 people seriously injured, 2,412 slightly injured.
In response to the figures on the number of deaths on the roads, Nick Lloyd, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ road safety manager, said: “When there’s an increase in traffic with economic growth, generally casualty statistics do tend to go up, but this in no way justifies these shocking figures.
“Britain traditionally has one of the best road safety records in the world, but we must focus our efforts through effective education, engineering and enforcement if we are to make our roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.”
He added: “More than 90 per cent of road crashes involve human error, which demonstrates the need for drivers to concentrate at all times, watch their speed, and avoid distractions.
“We also urge parents to kit their children out in high-visibility gear for the school journey, especially as the nights are now drawing in.”
Edmund King, president of AA, said: “It is of great concern that road deaths in Great Britain seem to have plateaued out over the last five years.”
He added of the figures: “Ultimately we need to aim for vision zero with no road deaths, but to get there we need more action.
“It will be a combination of better education, engineering and crucially, effective enforcement.
“There is definitely more we can do to educate via speed awareness and other corrective courses. Re-introducing targets and aiming for towards vision zero would be a step in the right direction.”
