2 people a week are being killed or seriously injured on the Isle of Wight’s roads, new figures have revealed.
Newly released data from the Department for Transport shows that tragically 8 people were killed on the Island’s roads last year alone, with a further 98 people sustaining serious injuries as a result of a road traffic collision. That means, on average, around 9 people a month lose their lives or find themselves in hospital with serious or life-changing injuries.
Furthermore, in 2022 some 221 people sustained what is recorded as a slight injury, taking the total number of road casualties last year to 327. Of those 327, just over 25% were on 2 wheels.
These shocking new figures reveal that almost 1 person a day is injured as a result of a road traffic collision. Of those roughly 7 injuries a week, 2 result in a fatality or serious injury.
Compared to 2021, the number of fatal collisions on the Isle of Wight has quadrupled from 2 to 8, although the number of serious injuries is roughly the same with 93 in 2021. There has been an increase in slight injuries, from 205 to 221.
Earlier this month Island Echo reported on how Coroner Caroline Sumeray grilled the Police over a spike in the number of deaths on the Island’s roads in recent years, with admissions made that 2 dedicated Roads Policing officers are ‘not sufficient’ and that the Roads Policing team have ‘never been so busy’.
Diving into the data, of the 8 fatal incidents in 2022 3 involved motorcyclists, 2 involved car occupants, 1 involved a van occupant, 1 involved a cyclist and 1 pedestrian was also killed. All of the casualties were male. 3 were aged 60+, 3 were aged 25-59 and 2 were aged between 16 and 24.
Looking at the serious injuries, 35 of the casualties were car occupants, 28 motorcyclists, 20 pedestrians, 12 cyclists, 1 bus occupant, 1 van occupant and 1 other vehicle occupant. 67.48% of the serious casualties were male, 32.52% female. 52 were aged between 25-59, 24 were 60+, 14 were aged 16-24 and 7 were under 15.
Those who sustained what is considered a slight injury included 140 car occupants, 31 motorcyclists, 16 pedestrians, 14 cyclists, 9 van occupants, 6 bus occupants, 4 other vehicle occupants and 1 HGV occupant. 103 were aged 25-59, 52 were aged 60+ as were those aged 16-24, and 15 were under 15. 55.17% were male and 44.83% female.
Rebecca Guy, Road Safety Manager for England at Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, has commented:
“The data paints a grim picture of road safety in Great Britain, with 29,742 killed or seriously injured on the roads every year – the equivalent of 1,000 coaches full of people, or 81 people per day, every day of the year.
“RoSPA is deeply concerned that despite car manufacturers making significant efforts to improve vehicle safety, lack of Government strategy and funding means the number of people killed on our roads has reduced by just two per cent since 2012.
“While car occupants accounted for most road casualties in 2022, the highest casualty rates per billion miles travelled were for motorcyclists, indicating that a person is more likely to be injured on the road when travelling by motorcycle.
“The distinct lack of progress in publishing a road safety strategy since 2019 is deeply concerning, and we urge the Government to publish a clear, evidence-based road safety strategy, before more people are killed on the roads.”
how many was there who had been drinking or on drugs or just speeding probably high looking at the news every week
Yeah, and how many were on the wrong side of double solid white lines
I’m shocked! Shocked, I say!
…
And excuse me now but I must go walk on Old Rd in East Cowes with a flashlight and no pavement whatsoever in order to buy something to eat, with cars passing me by much closer than 2m mentioned by Highway Code. I guess I got what’s coming for me for having tenacity to want food and being medically unable to drive, that’s a daredevil me!
On the weekend I will go to Monkey Haven: I’ll get out on a bus stop that’s a small patch of slippery grass next to road with cars driving 40mph and more like it’s a village life in Belarus in the 50s, and no one stops to let the vulnerable road user pass despite January’s changes.
…
But coming back to topic at hand… shocked, absolutely no idea how this happens!
You have a good point about the suitability and safety of some rural bus stops, but I fear that the likelihood of a pedestrian accident is actually much higher at pedestrian crossings.
On crossings, I think it’s partially the pedestrian priority.
I’m surprised British drivers don’t stop to let pedestrians through. There are some good apples but sometimes you can get 10-20 cars pass you by.
It’s totally opposite in Poland. Went to Cracow for a stag party and man, it’s so nice, you get priority as a pedestrian everywhere, just approach a crossing and everyone stops cause nobody wants to get fined.
Here 1/10 will let you pass, there 1/10 will not let you pass.
I thought January changes where supposed to bring UK up to speed but we’re still lagging behind so much!
About twice the rate in the rest of the UK per capita. Terrible statistics. Shockingly bad driving on the island due to a lack of policing and a pile of drugs.
Here we go, the start of the rhetoric to ease us all into a compulsory 20mph speed limit….
Not particularly ‘shocking’ given those who either shouldn’t be driving or whose vehicle is not legal to be on the road. I would state these figures are entirely understandable.
We need speed cameras. I have nothing to hide.
From what I have seen on these Lawless Roads
The Island is the most UNSAFE place in England for driving.
The Council need to invest in Road Safety, it is obvious the
Idiots on the Island will not slow down, so traffic calming,
Sleeping Policemen and speed Cameras are a must on this
Lawless Island.
Come on Clueless IW Council makes our roads safe.
WE PAY YOUR WAGES
There are so many drink and drug drivers on the island
until they are banged up, no one is safe on Island Roads.
The Law on the island needs to get tough and the council
have a duty of care to make Roads safe for everyone.
The Council have no control over drunk/drugged or driving without a license idiots. A competent driver should have no trouble navigating the island roads.
Because there are so many ‘James Hunts’ driving on the island now. They drive so fast on island roads with no care for other road users, pedestrians or wildlife. Their noisy exhausts and the stupid popping and banging maps they have put on, they are a bloody nuisance.
Then add alcohol and drugs into the mix and we’re plagued with dumb ass idiots in charge of a car!
If they have altered their vehicle and have not informed their insurance company they will find their insurance may be void, the police should pull them and contact the insurance companies to find out, these idiots could b in for a very nasty surprise.
8 deaths. You can massage the stats all you like, but those are good numbers.
How many of those 8 involved speeding? Drink or drugs? It’s pointless giving us misleading headlines when there could be zero deaths due to speeding, and yet the reaction will be PUT 5MPH SPEED LIMITS IN PLACE. (Well this is the Echo, so there will also be blame put on benefits claimants, and immigration).
If you do 40mph in 40mph zone then you’re not speeding yet you still have 80% bigger chance to kill a pedestrian, like an elderly who is walking on the road because there’s no pavement.
30mph is a best practice of max* speed for any place with mixed traffic: city centres, any roads that don’t have separated cycling lanes or pavements yet have bus stops or residential properties.
*obviously busy urban centre that barely has any space or narrow sidewalks like Newport drops to 20mph, with zones of 10mph like our esplanades on IOW – that’s just normal safety constrains.
It’s okay to even have 200mph limit as long as you have no people there and infrastructure is providing related levels of safety.
It’s all about the balance!
Would that headline have the same impact if he’d been written as; 106 SERIOUSLY INJURED OR KILLED.
Hope the Tories enjoyed their tax cuts at the expense of these ruined lives. Tory Britain, say you’re do stuff but then just make it worse and funnel more tax money into their wives bank accounts.
Just this morning I was on my motorbike on Military Road and was overtaken by 2 Black Porsche Cars and a Blue Nissan Skyline doing well over 100 mph. Also I saw a post from a mainland Motorcyclist boasting they had come to the Island to do 130 mph on Military Road.
Both sets of drivers are T…ers that need stopping, both lots dangerous and reckless.. This is not anti car or anti Motorbike it is just certain people putting 2 fingers up to the rest of society. It can only be shocking if the numbers are unpredictable or uncommon, neither in this case. Speed cameras, Police Motorcyclists, enforcement. It would soon stop.
It’s the tailgaters that get me, It doesn’t matter how close you get to to the back of my bike I’m not going to go any faster than the half dozen cars in front of me. With the quality of island driving these days I get the feeling I’m probably going to end up the filling of a “Car Sandwich” one of these days.