No accident of statistics

More than 3,000 are killed on Britain roads every year

It took four deaths at Hatfield to bring the train network to a crawl. Yet on average 10 people are killed on Britain's roads each day. Now the government is planning a crackdown on dangerous driving.

They may not look it, but Britain's roads have suddenly got a bit more dangerous.

The crisis on the trains has forced thousands of frustrated rail travellers to take their cars instead.

Road accidents 1999

Total casualties: 320,310

Pedestrian casualties down 4% on 1998

Motorbike & scooter casualties up 6%

This dramatic rise in road transport will take its toll on human life. Experts predict increased traffic levels will cause five additional deaths on the roads and 75 more people to be seriously injured.

All of which is bad news for government plans, announced in March this year, to cut road accidents by 40% by 2010.

But the Home Office is pressing ahead regardless. This week, it will unveil a range of hard-hitting measures aimed at reckless motorists.

So how dangerous are Britain's roads?

Nowhere near as dangerous as they used to be, is the upbeat answer. Last year, 3,423 people were killed on the roads, two more than in 1998. (By comparison, 33 were killed on the railways.)

30mph limits have been cut in many residential areas

The rate is well below that in the 1920s, when there were one million cars on the roads, compared to 20 million today.

It is also the envy of the rest of Europe. Britain has the safest roads in the European Union, well ahead of France, Germany and Italy. The UK even nudged ahead of Sweden last year.

The number of deaths in 1999 was far outweighed by injuries: 39,122 serious injuries and 277,765 slight injuries.

The numbers have been dropping for some years. In 1987 the Conservative government set out to reduce road deaths by a third from the baseline average in 1981 to 1985.

Deaths and serious injuries are now 39% and 48% respectively below that average.

The price of a life on the railways is about £1m

But road safety still takes second place to rail, say critics. While the cost of a life on the railways is about £1m, local authorities will rarely approve safety measures if the cost per fatality prevented is more than £100,000.

At the centre of the government's latest crackdown are an estimated 800,000 people who are driving without car tax, insurance or a licence. These are mainly young men.

Speeding is seen as one of the chief causes of road accidents. A survey by the Department of Transport this year found two thirds of drivers ignore 30mph speed signs. Fifty-six percent of drivers exceed the 70mph limit and 19% go above 80mph.

Plans to improve safety for children on the roads

The government has cut the speed limit in many residential areas from 30mph to 20mph. Leading pressure group Transport 2000 wants to see the limits extended to main roads outside shops, houses, schools, parks and playgrounds.

Critics accuse the government of making a U-turn on its transport policy, after announcing plans to spend £1bn on new roads and bypasses. After coming to office in 1997, it had announced a freeze on building new roads.