Brake, the road safety charity, has commented on the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) report which revealed that the UK is one of the EU countries making the ‘slowest progress’ towards targets to reduce road deaths, and has called for UK targets for reducing road fatalities.

The report, Ranking EU progress on road safety – the 11th annual PIN report, detailed that 2016 was the third consecutive poor year for road safety: 25,670 people lost their lives on EU roads compared to 26,200 the previous year – a 2% decrease.

Jason Wakeford, spokesman for Brake, the road safety charity, said: “Reductions in the numbers killed on UK roads have stagnated in recent years. Road deaths fell by just 1.4% between 2010 and 2016 – way short of the EU target. All other EU countries, with the exception of Lithuania, Malta and Sweden, have made better progress and urgent action is needed.

“It’s a disgrace that there are currently no UK targets for reducing the number of road deaths and we are calling for a UK target to be set as a priority for the Government.

“We need the creation of a Road Collision Investigation Branch, to help better understand road crashes so that lessons can be learned to prevent future deaths, alongside extra police resource for traffic enforcement.

“Brake is also calling on the European Commission to introduce new vehicle safety standards, including mandating Intelligent Speed Adaptation – helping drivers stay within speed limits.”