THE number of road deaths last year was the lowest since the beginning of the motoring age, according to official figures published yesterday.

The number killed fell by almost 300 to 3,221, the largest annual decrease for more than a decade. Twice as many people were killed on the roads in 1979, when there was half as much traffic. In 1926, when records began, 4,886 died.

The improvement ended a ten-year period during which road deaths stuck stubbornly at around 3,500 a year.

Deaths fell among all categories of road user except for pedal cyclists: 134 cyclists were killed last year, 18 per cent more than the previous year.The biggest improvement was in motorcyclist deaths, which fell 16 per cent to 585 — after reaching a 16-year high in 2003.

Motorcycling has been the subject of a high-profile safety campaign targeting the growing number of “born-again bikers”, men aged 30 to 50 who seek thrills by riding highperformance machines at weekends.

Deaths among car users fell 6 per cent to 1,671, despite a 2 per cent increase in the overall number of miles driven last year. Among children, deaths overall fell by 3 per cent to 166 but child pedestrian deaths rose by 4 per cent to 77.

Britain has the lowest road-death rate in Europe but has a poor record on child pedestrian safety compared with several other European countries, which have much lower speed limits outside schools.

However, changes in car design to make bonnets more forgiving in collisions with pedestrians appear to be making a difference. The number of pedestrian deaths among all ages fell 13 per cent last year to 671. Three times as many pedestrians were killed in 1979, when there were 9 million fewer vehicles on the roads. The national decline in road deaths masked significant regional disparities. Deaths increased in 16 police force areas, with the biggest increase in Gwent, where they almost doubled to 39. By contrast, deaths almost halved in Hampshire to 63 after the force decided to devote extra resources to traffic policing.

Across Britain, the number of traffic police has fallen by 11 per cent since 1996 as chief constables have switched officers to other duties, such as tackling street crime.

Hampshire has resisted the trend by increasing its team of traffic police and ensuring that they spend more time on the road. The force has also chosen to concentrate on educating drivers rather than simply issuing speed-camera penalties.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “Our policy is not just to rely on cameras but to keep a highly-visible police presence on the roads, especially on routes with high casualty rates. We also believe in a mix of education and enforcement.”

Drivers caught speeding in the New Forest have been offered the choice between a ticket or pulling in to a layby and talking to people who have cared for animals killed by cars.

Hampshire police have also offered free eye tests to older drivers after noticing that a disproportionate number of collisions were caused by those aged over 60.

The force rigorously enforces the drink-drive limit, carrying out twice as many breath tests as the national average.

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety welcomed the fall in deaths but said that the Government should now set itself new and more challenging targets.

Rob Gifford, the council’s director, urged ministers to pledge to reduce the death rate on the roads to the same level as it is on the railways. Taking account of the distance travelled, this would mean setting a target of cutting road deaths to fewer than 1,000 a year. Mary Williams, chief executive of the road-safety organisation Brake, called for investment in the road network to make it safer for cyclists.

“The Government is encouraging us to get out of our cars and on to our bikes, and the upshot is that cyclists are dying,” she said. “A cyclist is 20 times more likely to be killed than a car occupant on an urban road, 34 times more likely to be killed on a rural road.”