Road deaths falling, says council

Road safety schemes were having an effect, say the council

Road deaths in Powys have fallen dramatically in the last three years, according to a council.

Officials said they had introduced a number of safety initiatives which were paying off.

In 2006, the county accounted for more than 60% of motorcycle road deaths in the Dyfed-Powys Police force area, but that had reduced to 36%.

MP Roger Williams has demanded action to tackle the number of people killed and injured in road crashes in Powys.

Mr Williams, the Brecon and Radnorshire MP, said earlier this week there were more fatal and serious accidents in the county in 2008 than anywhere else in Wales.

Figures show Powys topping a Welsh road crash league table for six years.

'Paying off'

But Powys council said accident figures, especially for motorcycle collisions, had fallen since 2006.

Councillor Gwilym Evans, who is responsible for road safety, said: "We continue to work in conjunction with the police and other emergency services, Road Safety Wales and the recently formed Wales road casualty reduction partnership on a number of road safety projects and initiatives.

"We have assessed 84 of Powys' residents through our motorcycle assessment scheme and we have also trained 223 young drivers through the Pass Plus Cymru course in 2009 alone.

"Whilst we are confident that the work is paying off by the fall in the number of deaths in the past three years, we are not complacent and will continue to develop and implement schemes in order to further reduce the number of casualties."