Drivers urged to stop speeding as road deaths figures released (From York Press)

Drivers urged to stop speeding as road deaths figures released

11:00am Monday 4th September 2006 in News By Tom Stirling

FOURTEEN dead and 208 injured - that's the horrific toll on York and North Yorkshire's roads in only FOUR months.

Speed is the number one cause of the fatal crashes, and safety campaigns on all the major routes into and out of York will be rolled out next month.

The father of a teenage crash victim said today he had a simple message for all motorists: "Think."

Of the 14 deaths recorded between April 1 and July 31 this year, four were in York - and three of them in a single accident.

The data are collected by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service at every incident to which they are called. Ian Young, director of corporate services for the fire service authority, said: "Most road traffic collision deaths have occurred on the A roads, the overriding cause attributed to inappropriate speeds."

Keith Houliston's 17-year-old son Neil died on Christmas Day in a head-on smash near Selby. He hadn't been wearing a seatbelt. Police said he would have survived if he had.

"There’s always a human element in any accident. Excess speed is one. Kids get behind cars which are more powerful than they think. They think they know it all, but they don’t."

Keith Houliston

Mr Houliston said: "What myself and my family have gone through has been horrific, and Neil's death could have been prevented.

"There's always a human element in any accident. Excess speed is one. Kids get behind cars which are more powerful than they think. They think they know it all, but they don't.

"If they do crash, and they survive, they learn their lesson. But if they don't, it's their parents who have to suffer for the rest of their lives."

Since 2004, on average more than three motorists a month have died, and about 50 have been injured on the county's roads, according to figures collected by firefighters.

Colin Chadfield, head of business risk at the fire service, said: "We try anything we can to reduce road deaths.

"In a year we attend an average of almost one road fatality a week. If you add in four times that number of serious injuries, and all the minor injuries too, just think of all the families affected. It's madness.

"A lot of accidents are predictable: drivers are tired, drunk or just going too fast.

"When we first started targeting motorists we thought most people involved in crashes would be from outside North Yorkshire, but that's not true. Most are locals, who think they know the roads, and know what they are doing. All too often, they don't."

In May this year, the number of road accident injuries was particularly high, peaking at 70. Mr Young said the dry weather followed by torrential downpours had caused problems for motorists.

Firefighters will continue to deploy mobile electronic speed warning signs, in addition to launching a high-visibility anti-speeding campaign on York's main roads, planned for October.

The fire and rescue service has annual targets for reducing deaths and injuries on the roads. Aiming at limiting the total number of deaths to 39, and the total number of injuries to 556, it is on course to narrowly miss both.

Mr Young will present all the collected data to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority next week.

Fatalities on North Yorks roads

• April 16 - A 32-year-old Malton motorcyclist dies in a collision with a car on the A171 near Whitby.

• April 20 - Three people are killed in an accident in Stockton Lane, York. One of them is The Press van driver Peter Alexander, 57. The other two are 15-year-old friends Joel Corner and Daniel Wright. Joel was at the wheel of an Audi A4 when it crashed into the van.

• June 3 - A couple in their 60s, from Lancashire, and a 75-year-old Rotherham man die in a two-car accident on the A59 near Skipton. In a separate incident, motorcyclist Natalie Hooper, 50, from Ripon, dies in a collision with a car on the A65 in the Yorkshire Dales.

• June 4 - Philip Robson, 38, of Helmsley, dies when his motorbike is in collision with a car on the A169 Pickering to Whitby road.

• June 10 - A 55-year-old Lancashire motorcyclist dies after losing control on a bend on the A684, near Bainbridge.

• June 17 - A car and a motorbike collide on the B6265 in Nidderdale. The rider, a 46-year-old from Pudsey, is killed.

• July 15 - A motorcyclist dies in a smash on the A166 between Holtby and Gate Helmsley. In a separate incident, an hour later, a back seat passenger in a silver Honda is killed when its driver lost control and left the eastbound carriageway of the A64 near York.

• July 23 - Cyclist Tracy Anne Kaye, 36, dies when her bike is in collision with a people carrier towing a caravan on the A64 at Claxton, near York.