Britain's safe roads are the envy of the world, study finds

The UK has the lowest death rate from driving in the developed world, according to new statistics that suggest seatbelt laws, allied to the greater use of speed cameras, are saving lives.

American administrators are pushing for laws there that would bring the same safety benefits.

But the number of people injured in accidents is well above average, with the UK ranking 14th on a standardised scale drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

One key factor in the number of deaths in the United States could be the popularity of "off-road" cars, known there as sports utility vehicles (SUVs), which a separate study shows are at least 40 per cent more dangerous to their occupants and other people in a crash than standard cars.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out yesterday that road deaths and injuries are still a major killer worldwide.

"The number who die is about 1.2 million per year, which is on a par with malaria," said Dr Etienne Krug, director of the WHO's department for injuries and violence prevention, who is preparing a report for publication next year on the subject.

Steve Hounsham, of the lobby group Transport 2000, said: "While our accident rate is good, it's nothing to be complacent about. We had 3,500 people killed and 300,000 casualties last year.

"If there were that number of injuries and deaths on the railways, we would close them down tomorrow."

Yet in the past 30 years the UK's roads have become less deadly than those in the US, which used to have the lowest death rate in the developed world. In 2001, the UK had an average of 7.5 deaths per billion "vehicle kilometres", a standard unit for distance travelled that allows a like-for-like comparison of relative safety between countries. The American figure, by contrast, was a "standardised" 9.4 deaths ­ an actual total of 42,815 deaths on the roads. In the UK, 3,440 people died from road accidents in 2001.

Americans are being urged to follow Britain's lead and implement seatbelt laws, speed cameras and tougher drink-driving laws, which have been identified as key aids in reducing road deaths.

"If everybody [in the US] buckles up, we can save between 7,000 and 9,000 lives a year," said Dr Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the US's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although the US claims that 80 per cent of people use their seat belts, only half of its states have laws like the UK's, which allow police to stop people who are not wearing a seat belt.

The UK's injuries record is much higher than many other OECD countries: it comes 14th in the list for injuries. The value, of 0.52 injuries per million vehicle-kilometres, because non-fatal accidents are far more common, is well above the OECD average of 0.49, on which the US fares above average.

Dr Krug said that there is no simple answer. "It's all part of a system; dealing with issues in isolation is not the way forward," he said. "It needs serious political commitment. Speed is a factor that needs to be addressed, but so is alcohol, seat belts, visibility of people beside and on the road, road and junction layout and car design."

One factor in the increased deaths in the US may be the popularity of SUVs, which appear to be less stable and lead to "rollover" accidents that can kill occupants.

A recent study by the US's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that vehicle quality is the major factor contributing to the safety of drivers in a crash, and that off-road cars are significantly less safe. After studying data from crashes from 1995 onwards, they declared that "the safest SUV, the [Chevrolet] Suburban, has at least a 40 per cent higher combined risk than the three safest mid-size and large cars, the [Toyota] Avalon, [Toyota] Camry and [Honda] Accord."