Grim toll of hit-and-run casualties on our roads

Published: 3 September, 2010

• IT is distressing to learn that Westminster is now one of the most dangerous boroughs in London in terms of road safety.

According to Department for Transport figures Westminster has the worst roads for hit-and-run, with 181 such casualties in 2009, some 15 a month.

Second worst is Tower Hamlets with 163 such victims, followed by Lambeth with 153.

Arguably, the safest borough is Kingston-upon-Thames with a mere 35 last year.

However, Westminster continues to lead the way in hit-and-run scenarios and it is also most certainly no place for children.

In 2009 there were 1,570 road victims in Westminster, 41 of them children.

And 15 people died, although none was a child.

Cycling casualties have gone up from 277 in 2008 to 303 last year, with child cyclist casualties increasing from two to three.

Motorcycling is even more dangerous, with motorcycling crashes shooting up from 306 to 347.

That’s nearly 29 every month of the year.

And last year 419 pedestrians were hurt by vehicles or motorbikes, with 10 of them dying; 18 of the casualties were children, although none of these died.

The figures define road deaths only as those who die within one month of a crash, not within a whole year.

Nor do they include unborn children killed on our roads.

And we have yet to see such statistics incorporated into the crime figures produced by Westminster’s police.

ANTONY PORTER
Ashmore Road, W9