Drop in road deaths encouraging sign - commissioner

Mat MacDonald campaigned over road safety in the region before being made the region's road safety commissioner

An 18% drop in the number of people killed or seriously injured on West Midlands roads is "a very encouraging sign", the region's road safety commissioner says.

Statistics from West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster showed that between January and July this year, 471 people were killed or seriously injured, down from 575 over the same period in 2024.

Mr Foster said, despite the reduction, the number remained too high and added that he remained committed to tackling the issue.

Road safety commissioner Mat MacDonald said it was "really fantastic news", although a longer period of time was needed to see if the figures were "a welcome trend".

"I'm sure residents are happy to see this, and the people who are still around walking and talking and don't realise they they could have been part of the statistics," he said.

"It is important though, when we look at data, to be cautious.

"I know there's been a lot of work by police on this but I think we need a longer period of time to see if this is a welcome trend or a flux in the data."

Simon Foster, West Midlands PCC (l) and West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, (second on right) oversaw the appointments of Beccy Marston, the active travel commissioner (r) and Mat MacDonald (second on left), new road safety commissioner earlier this year

Mr MacDonald, a former chair of a road safety campaign group and NHS doctor, said 21 people had been killed in Birmingham since a road safety emergency was declared in summer 2024 and each death was "a life cut brutally short, leaving a devastated family behind".

"We must double down on our efforts, no-one should be killed or seriously injured on our roads."

A Regional Road Safety Action Plan 2024-2030 has been devised by the commissioner, West Midlands Police and the region's mayor, Richard Parker.

The objective is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads by 50% by 2030 and Vision Zero by 2040.

"We all need to continue to collectively commit to constant and unremitting action to do what it takes to improve road safety in the West Midlands and aim for Vision Zero by 2040," Mr Foster said revealing the data on Tuesday.

"A factor that will undoubtedly have contributed to that reduction is that West Midlands Police has tripled the number of careless, dangerous and reckless motorists it is bringing to justice from 1,800 per week to 5,000 per week."

He said the figure would be 7,000 by April, due in part to investment from the PCC and the chief constable to double the number of mobile speed enforcement camera vans, as well as additional officers and staff allocated to roads policing.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.