More people were killed and injured on Worcestershire’s roads last year.

That is according to provisional figures from the Department for Transport which states there were 984 road casualties in the county in 2021, with 21 deaths and 236 serious injuries.

The total figure was up from 909 the year before, with 13 deaths and 155 badly injured, but was still lower than pre-pandemic levels, with 1,152 injuries recorded in 2019.

However, West Mercia Police superintendent Steph Brighton feels these figures do not tell the whole story.

“Comparing data year on year doesn’t take into account other factors. The Covid outbreak and the national lockdown had a dramatic effect on the UK roads,” she said.

“During 2020 our road network was extremely quiet due to the national lockdown. People were ordered not to make any non-essential journeys and the majority of the population were instructed to work from home.  This had a huge impact on the volume of traffic that was using the roads during that year and subsequently on the amount of collisions. As 2021 returned to near normal traffic volume unfortunately the number of collisions increased

“When looking at collision data for analysis we look at patterns of five years, this gives us a greater indication of any emerging trends rather than comparing year on year. Any death or serious injury on the roads is a tragic event, however it is encouraging that the number of casualties in 2021 were lower than seen in 2019 and we are doing all we can to bring these down further.”

Across Great Britain there were 127,967 road casualties in 2021, an 11 per cent rise on the previous year, with 1,560 people killed.

The RAC said the Government must do more to improve road safety.

The organisation's head of roads policy, Nicholas Lyes, said: “RAC research suggests there is a huge level of concern among drivers about the standard of driving on our roads, so we urge the Government to consider reintroducing road safety targets.

“They should also look at whether the long-term decline in full-time road traffic police officers has led to a worsening in driver behaviour."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “While there has been a decline in road casualties in recent years, any fatality on our roads is a tragedy and our sympathies remain with anyone who has lost a loved one.

“Road safety is a top priority we are committed to improving through education and updates to the Highway Code that will help protect vulnerable road users, alongside our highly successful THINK! Campaign.”