Driving offences can have very serious and sometimes devastating consequences for victims and their families. That is why we are looking closely at the law in this area and have announced a review of driving offences and penalties.

Offenders are more likely to convicted and sent to prison in 2013 compared to 2010. The number of people found guilty for failing to stop after an accident, by police force area, in England and Wales, from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the table.

Table for answer

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will publish details of Government use of tickets and hospitality in the autumn, this will include use of transport services which operated on the Olympic or Paralympic Route Networks.

The Department has not carried out any formal analysis into the correlation between levels of maintenance on road infrastructure and road casualties.

However, the Department does collect information on contributory factors for reported personal injury road accidents attended by a police officer at the scene of the accident. The contributory factors for road environment has a specific factor for “Poor or defective road surface”. The following table provides the relevant trend since 2007 for Great Britain:

It is particularly notable that there were two separate periods of sustained snow and ice across many areas of Great Britain during 2010 (one at the beginning of the year, one at the end) which may have led to a deterioration of road surfaces. This may explain the higher proportion of accidents during that year for which “poor or defective road surface” was a contributory factor.

The Department for Transport provided £200 million in March 2011 to repair damage on the highway caused by the 2010 winter and is providing further £3 billion over four years to 2014-15 to local highway authorities in England for roads for which they are responsible.

The Department for Transport does not collect information about how many local authorities operate road safety education activities in schools in England. Local authorities have statutory duties related to road safety but the decisions about whether they operate road safety education activities in schools in England are for local authorities.

The Department for Transport does not collect information about the numbers and sizes of local authorities' road safety management teams. Local authorities have statutory duties related to road safety, but the decisions about how many staff are necessary and whether staff are employed directly or not are for local authorities.

The Government recognises that local communities have a central role in making roads as safe as they can be. It is has therefore changed the way its funding support is provided to give local authorities more freedom to assess and act on their own priorities. It has also provided a new local sustainable transport fund and from April 2013 there will be more funding associated with the transfer of responsibilities for public health to local authorities.

Information on the number of road traffic accidents where the cause of the accident was attributed to the driver having had a hypoglycaemic attack is not recorded.

The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

The information requested has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House.

Figures for cyclists who were injured or killed after a road collision involving a pedestrian are included only for cases where the pedestrian was also injured in the accident. It is not possible to identify pedestrian involvement in collisions where only the cyclist was injured.

The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House.

Figures for cyclists who were injured or killed after a road collision involving a pedestrian are included only for cases where the pedestrian was also injured in the accident. It is not possible to identify pedestrian involvement in collisions where only the cyclist was injured.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

The number of people killed as a result of a collision involving a car rose by 7% in Great Britain, from 1,117 in 2010 to 1,196 in 2011. Numbers of people killed in a road accident rose by 3% in Great Britain, from 1,850 in 2010 to 1,901 in 2011.

Since 2003, deaths in road accidents have fallen steadily, and 2010 saw the highest ever fall (17%) in a single year. Despite the increase in fatalities in 2011 the annual total is below that of 2009, and is indeed the second lowest figure since the end of the First World War.

There are a number of factors that may have contributed to the year-on-year increase in road fatalities from 2010 to 2011. However, there is evidence that extreme winter weather conditions tend to reduce the number of road fatalities, as there is much less traffic than usual and those motorists who do venture out tend to drive more slowly and cautiously.

In this context it is particularly notable that there were two separate periods of sustained snow and ice across many areas of Great Britain during 2010 (one at the beginning of the year, one at the end), but no such periods on a comparable scale during 2011. This year-on-year difference would be expected to lead to a higher number of fatalities in the winter months of 2011 than in the winter months of 2010, holding all other factors equal.

The statistics bear this out: during the four winter months of 2011 (January, February, November and December) there were 81 more road fatalities than in the same months of 2010. During the remaining eight months of the year (March to October inclusive), which were not affected by extreme winter weather, there were 30 fewer fatalities in 2011 than in 2010.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Transport.

The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), is responsible for the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in England. The Highways Agency improves, manages, and maintains the network on her behalf. Local highway authorities are responsible for deciding what arrangements are put in place for their local road network.

The Agency seeks to reduce the potential for animal fatalities by avoiding collisions or reducing their impact. This approach is taken where roads cross lines of animal migration and in all other instances.

The Highways Agency carries outwork to assess and mitigate the impact of the operation, maintenance and improvement of the SRN on wildlife patterns of movement.

Mitigation includes encouraging animal crossings via tunnels, adapted farm crossings and underpasses. Such measures reduce the risk of animals being killed or injured on the network. Appropriate fencing and planting are also established to promote safe crossing points and direct animals away from the carriageway.

The Agency also undertakes research to better understand the effectiveness of such mitigation measures, in order to minimise the number of animal fatalities on the SRN and therefore reduce their impact. Further advice is published in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges available online at

http://www.dft.gov.uk/ha/standards/dmrb/index.htm

The information requested is available on the Department's website, from the following link:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ras51001

The six typical stopping distances first appeared together in the 1969 edition of The Highway Code, although some date from 1946. The stopping distances have not changed since then. They are currently expressed in metres and in feet. However, the current edition of the Code published in 2007 made it clear that

“The distances shown are a general guide. The distance will depend on your attention (thinking distance), the road surface, the weather conditions and the condition of your vehicle at the time”.

We currently have no plans to carry out another revision. When we carry out the next revision to the Code we will as usual undertake a consultation on proposed changes to the Code.

In paragraph 4.22 of the Strategic Framework we identified a desire to work with the voluntary sector representing the elderly on this. We will be taking this work forward in due course.

Since the publication of the Strategic Framework for Road Safety in May 2011, the Department has taken a series of important steps to implement proposals set out in the framework. They include steps on all three of the thematic chapters of the framework.

1. ‘improving road safety together': preparatory work for the launch of a road safety comparison site, a road safety observatory, a speed limit assessment tool and a revised speed limit circular is well advanced and on track for completion this year.

2. ‘education': we have already made changes to the driving tests and changes to the educational scheme for drink drive offenders are progressing towards implementation.

3. ‘targeted enforcement and sanctions': preparatory work on the introduction of fixed penalty notices for careless driving and increased penalty fines is well-advanced and legislation to create a specific drug impaired driving offence has been published.

The Department will continue implementation of these and other measures as set out in the Strategic Framework.

The DFT publication “Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: annual report 2010” shows the number and proportion of reported personal injury road accidents which had “Uncorrected, defective eyesight” recorded as a contributory factor, in Great Britain in 2010. The relevant statistics can be found using the following link:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ras50001/

Note that contributory factors are reported only for injury road accidents where a police officer attended the scene and reported at least one contributory factor. These factors are largely subjective, reflecting the attending officer's opinion at the time of reporting. It is recognised that subsequent inquires could lead to the reporting officer changing their opinion.

The information requested is given in the following table: