A Dozen Facts

1. The first ever pedestrian killed by a motor car was hit at only 4mph. She was Bridget Driscoll who died on 17 August 1896 at Crystal Palace, London

2. An average family car travelling at 35mph will need an extra 21 feet to stop than one travelling at 30mph

3. It is not safer to drive faster at night. Casualty rates are double that during daylight hours due to higher speeds because of less traffic, higher alcohol consumption, tiredness and darkness

4. If you hit a cyclist or pedestrian at 35mph rather than 30mph, the force of the impact increases by more than a third

5. Traffic is the biggest single killer of 12-16 year olds. In 2002, 35 teenagers aged 12-15 were killed as pedestrians on the roads and statistics show that they are twice as likely to be knocked down as toddlers

6. Motorcyclists represent 1% of traffic but suffer 19% of deaths and serious injuries

7. Pedestrians represent 13% of all road casualties and 23% of all road deaths

8. A change in the mean speed of traffic will affect accident risk and each reduction in mean speed of 1mph will reduce accident frequency by about 5%

9. Seven out of 10 drivers admit to regularly breaking the 30mph speed limit

10. Around two thirds of all accidents in which people are killed or seriously injured happen on roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less

11. If a driver hits a pedestrian at 20 mph, the pedestrian has a 95% chance of survival. At 30 mph the survival chance is 80% and if a driver hits a pedestrian at 40 mph, the pedestrian's survival chances fall to just 10%

12. In 2003, 37,215 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions in Great Britain, of which 4,100 were children under 15 years of age

Source: Department for Transport - Think website - www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk