FEWER people died on North Yorkshire's roads last year - but road safety officials have warned against complacency.

Nationally, road deaths increased by four per cent in 2014, compared with 2013.

But in North Yorkshire, road deaths reduced by 20 per cent compared with 2013, from 51 deaths to 40.

The county also saw a fall in the number of people seriously injured on its roads, with an eight per cent reduction to 391, while nationally there was a five per cent increase.

The findings have been published this week in North Yorkshire County Council’s annual casualty report.

The document also showed a fall in the number of motorcyclists killed.

“Road safety remains a priority for the county council,” said Cllr Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s executive member for road safety.

“Every death on our roads is a death too many and we are therefore pleased that the number of fatalities is falling.

“Our road safety team and partners in the 95 Alive road safety partnership work extremely hard to get safety messages across to the travelling public, but there is much more to do.

“In such a large rural county which attracts so many visitors and tourists, with an extensive network of winding country roads and all the speed issues that go with it, we cannot afford to be complacent.”

Although the road death rate is down in the county, in North Yorkshire 2.4 per cent of all road collisions result in a fatality compared to 1.1 per cent of road collisions nationally.

This means the relative likelihood of being killed on the roads in North Yorkshire is higher than the national average.