Shropshire drivers told: Forget your excuses, crashes are down to your bad driving

Experts said it is wrong to blame potholes, fog or heavy rain for crashes, blaming instead the inability of drivers to adapt to conditions or follow basic rules of the road.

Motorists failing to look properly contributed to the most number of accidents last year across our county, a total of 177.

The second most common cause was the driver losing control, which happened in 134 accidents in the Shropshire Council area.

In Telford & Wrekin the driver or rider failing to look properly contributed to the most accidents, a total of 101. Failing to judge another vehicle's speed happened in 44 crashes in the borough.

In Powys the driver losing control contributed to 98 accidents over the 12 months.

Reckless

Other common factors in Shropshire were the driver or rider failing to judge another vehicle's speed, bad turns or manoeuvres and the driver or rider being careless and reckless.

Figures released today come from Department for Transport data, which lists contributory factors for accidents, as recorded by police.

There are 78 different factors for officers to choose from. They can record more than one reason for an accident, which, for example, could be caused by bad driving, poor weather conditions, pedestrians stepping into the road, or a combination of all three.

An accident is registered when at least one person suffers a slight injury in an incident with a vehicle. The injury does not have to involve cars. It could be a bike colliding with a pedestrian, or someone falling over while cycling.

RAC road safety spokesman, Pete Williams, said: "More people lose their lives and are injured on Shropshire’s roads in accidents caused by driver or rider error than for any other reason.

"Last year nearly two thirds of the fatalities on our roads were put down to mistakes. The two biggest driving errors that led to the most deaths and accidents were losing control of a vehicle and failing to look properly.

Investigation

"Sadly, the picture doesn’t seem to be improving as these figures are fairly typical of recent years’ data. We need to better understand the root causes of accidents and therefore require more data – something a dedicated road accident investigation body could provide."

The figures also show the number of road casualties in Shropshire. There were 784 casualties in 2017, during which 18 people were killed and 162 seriously injured.

In Telford and Wrekin there were 310 casualties in 2017, during which two people were killed and 52 seriously injured. In Powys there were 509 casualties, with 11 people killed and 127 seriously injured.

Mr Williams added: "While everyone makes mistakes while driving, motorists need to realise the potential consequences of losing focus on what is a complex and demanding task.

"There are, of course, plenty of accidents that are wholly avoidable and result from driver distractions or impairment such as drink, hand-held mobile phone use and driver fatigue."