Middlesbrough has lowest rate of young people killed or seriously injured in road accidents

Middlesbrough has the lowest rate in England for young people being killed or seriously injured in road accidents.

According to road safety statistics from the Department for Transport there were just six crashes in which a passenger or driver aged 16 to 20 was killed or seriously injured in Middlesbrough between January 2010 and December 2013.

Given that there are 10,388 young people living in the area within that age group this means that over this three-year period there were 5.8 such road accidents for every 10,000 16 to 20 year olds.

This is far lower than than the average for Great Britain which stands at 28.7 over the same period.

No other local authority in England has a lower rate of 16 to 20 year olds being involved in serious car accidents while only two other local authorities in Britain have a lower rate.

The number of fatalities or serious injuries as a result of road accidents is low across all age groups in Middlesbrough with 5.8 accidents for every 10,000 residents compared to 12 per 10,000 across Britain.

A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said road safety education and training for children has always been a priority for the council.

A comprehensive programme of initiatives includes the Seatbelt Sheriff, who demonstrates the importance of wearing a seatbelt using model cars and a crash test dummy family.

Councillor Charlie Rooney, Middlesbrough Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “The Department for Transport’s latest statistics are very encouraging, and reflect the council’s ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety of all road users.

“Recent initiatives - such as the introduction of ‘blanket’ 20 mph speed limits covering residential areas of the borough - are evidence of this commitment, and we continually monitor casualty data on all roads across the town to ensure that early action is taken to address any areas of concern.”

Elsewhere on Teesside there were 30.6 serious or fatal injuries per 10,000 people aged 16 to 20 in Redcar and Cleveland. and 33.9 per 10,000 in Stockton-on-Tees.

Across Great Britain there have been 11,010 fatal or serious injuries sustained by 16 to 20 year olds between 2010 and 2013 at a rate of 28.7 for every 10,000 young people in the age group.

In all of these accidents the young person in question was either a driver - or rider where motorbikes are concerned - or a passenger.

This is more than double the rate of 12 accidents for every 10,000 people across all age groups.

The age group with the next highest rate of accidents was 21 to 25 year olds with 22.6 accidents for every 10,000 people in the age group.