RAC Foundation releases road death statistics

New group formed by the UN to end road deaths

THE RAC Foundation has released mortality statistics for road traffic accidents in the UK. The data covers all vehicles, not just motorcycles.

The data has been gathered as part of the Commission for Global Road Safety - for the formal launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The group's mission is to end road deaths.

The figures show that in 2009 2,605 people died in road traffic accidents in the UK. While this made up only 0.5% of all deaths in the UK in that year, for those in the 15-19 age group road accidents account for 25% of all deaths.

The largest number of deaths in the UK result from conditions such as heart disease (33% of all deaths), cancer (28% of all deaths) and respiratory diseases (14% of all deaths).

There is also a significant and notable disparity between the deaths caused by road traffic accidents between men and women, with men being over three times as likely to die from a road accident.