Call to cut accident rate

Death rates from accidents are higher in the East Midlands region than anywhere else in the country.

On Wednesday, Northamptonshire County Council are due to discuss a Government call for the county to cut the figure by one-fifth within seven years.

More than a thousand people die every year in the East Midlands as a result of an accident - with Corby being the most accident-prone town of the region.

The deaths result from road traffic incidents to falls in the home and accidents in the workplace.

The Government published a White Paper setting out targets for each local authority to aim for - by 2010 Northamptonshire needs to reduce its accidental death rate by at least one-fifth.

The Northamptonshire County Council's health scrutiny committee is meeting on Wednesday to discuss how it goes about this.