Directors of Public Health in the North West have produced the report, which draws attention to the high rates of death and injury on roads in the region where children are more likely to be injured in road traffic collisions than anywhere else in the country.

Green Party spokesperson on sustainable development Prof John Whitelegg commented:

“This is an incredibly important report from NHS Directors of Public Health. It says we have a serious problem with death and injury on the roads and it says the solution is a 20 mph limit. I agree.

The report presents compelling evidence that lives could have been saved and injuries reduced if 20 mph limits had been introduced in residential areas.

The report’s main points include:

• Child casualty information shows that two-thirds of children who are killed or seriously injured on the roads are boys.
• Over four-fifths of child casualties occur on roads that have a speed limit of 30 mph, and statistical modelling shows that up to 140 killed or seriously injured child casualties could be saved each year if 20 mph speed limits had been applied in these areas.

In the report, road traffic casualty rates are measured for all local authorities in the North West. Stockport is the best with 342 casualties per 100,000 population and Eden the worst at 793 per 100,000 population. Lancaster is 477 casualties per 100,000 population.

Other regions may have slightly better records, said the Greens, but they would be advised to follow the 20 mph policy to reduce road deaths further.

Notes

1. The full report, Road Traffic Collisions and Casualties in the North West of England, was produced by the North West Public Health Observatory in conjunction with NHS North West, the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, the Child and Maternal Health Observatory and the Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group. See http://www.nwph.net/nwpho/Publications/Forms/rta.html.

2. Further information from Green Party press office, 020 7561 0282.