Derbyshire County Council’s ruling Conservative Group have welcomed the publishing of record low statistics for casualties on the County’s roads in 2017.

The Derby and Derbyshire Annual Casualty Report for 2017 was noted and published at a meeting of the County Council’s Conservative-run Cabinet on 11th October.

The report identifies that the number of casualties, which has been on a downward trend in recent years, has reduced again to another new record low of 2,122 recorded injury casualties. The number of recorded injury collisions has also fallen substantially from 1,914 to 1,640.

In addition, the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on Derbyshire’s roads in 2017 reduced from 2016’s level and are now the lowest on record.

Commenting, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport, Cllr Simon Spencer said: “Every casualty on Derbyshire’s roads is a tragedy. While these statistics for 2017 are extremely welcome, we will not rest on our laurels and we’re continuing to strive to make Derbyshire’s roads even safer.”

At the same Cabinet meeting, the Conservative-run authority agreed to allocate £1.180million towards road safety improvements on the A619 between Baslow and Bakewell, widely known as the Thirteen Bends.

The move comes as part of a wider £6.8m programme to make three key Derbyshire roads safer for those residents who use them over the next few years. In addition to the £1.18m for the A619, the Council is also to spend £3.079million on the A5012 between Cromford to Newhaven (Via Gellia) and £2.54million for the A5004 between Buxton and Whaley Bridge (Long Hill).

The funding comes from the Government’s £175miion Safer Roads Fund and the latter two schemes will receive the grant funding in 2020-21.

The improvements on the Thirteen Bends includes:

• junction improvements
• Installing centre hatching/wide cente line, rumble strips, roadside barriers and bike guard
• Providing two new roundabouts (at the junctions with B6012 and the B6001)
• And the removal of overhanding vegetation

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Barry Lewis added: “This is a great example of what a Conservative Government and Conservative Council can achieve when we work together to improve life for local residents. Together with the extra £6million we’ve put into our road maintenance budget, this is absolutely vital investment which will help make our roads safer and hopefully help us to reduce casualties even further.”