Yahoo News Safety calls after hundreds injured on York roads last year - with four deaths
Hundreds of people were injured on York roads last year - four of whom died, new figures show.
And a city campaigner said protecting people with speed reduction measures was an easy way to reduce the figures - without significantly impacting journey times.
Provisional data from the Department for Transport suggest there were 358 road casualties in York in 2023 – a rise from 357 the year before.
However, it was a decrease from 583 in 2014, which saw the most injuries in the last 10 years.
In York, 86 people were seriously injured on the roads last year, four of whom died. In 2022, road accidents caused the death of fewer people in the area – three.
Anna Semlyen, national campaign leader for 20's Plenty for Us, a group which seeks to see more speed limits default to 20mph, said: "Road violence in York remains a serious issue.
"Pedestrians form the backbone of the tourist and education sectors that York's economy relies on.
"Protecting people with speed reduction is a popular, affordable way to improve our city without significantly affecting journey times."
North Yorkshire Police said it worked with other agencies in a bid to cut the number of people who are killed or injured on our roads.
A spokesperson said: "Sadly, our officers are all too familiar with the devastation caused by fatal and serious collisions on our roads.
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"Our dedicated Road Safety Team carry out early intervention and prevention work to educate motorists, in particular, young drivers, to raise awareness of the law, safe driving and the consequences of flouting the rules of the road.
"Our motorcycle team also holds Bike Safe events to provide motorcyclists with enhanced skills and increase their ability to ride safely on North Yorkshire’s 6,000 miles of roads and beyond.
"The force also targets areas that have been identified through data analysis as areas of a particular concern.
"We work with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency to intercept vehicles and drivers, particularly commercial vehicles that maybe unsafe or unlicensed.
"We support national road safety campaigns, and work with many partner agencies to inform and enforce."
In Yorkshire and The Humber, 12,833 people were injured or killed on the roads in 2023.
The RAC has pointed to a growing number of pedestrian fatalities and said it "should be a red flag to the Government signifying just how dangerous our roads still are".
RAC head of policy, Simon Williams, said: "Any number of deaths on the road is too many, so we strongly encourage the new Government not to take these figures lightly and to make road safety a priority.
"We continue to believe the Government should reinstate road casualty reduction targets."
The DfT said the Government’s THINK! Campaign aims to cut road deaths by changing attitudes and behaviours.
