MORE people died on North Yorkshire's roads in 2019 than the previous year alongside a decrease in people being seriously injured in crashes, according to the latest figures.

An annual report into the safety of the county's roads shows a continued downward trend in the number of people seriously injured in crashes, but there was an increase in deaths from 32 in 2018 to 37 in 2019.

North Yorkshire County Council’s road safety team compiled the report, which shows the statistics for 2019 monitored against the previous year.

The number of people seriously injured in crashes saw a nine per cent reduction from 329 to 298.

In addition, the number of people injured in road collisions in 2019 was also down to 1,445 from 1,750 in 2018, a reduction of 17 per cent.

Continuing the overall downward trend since 2002, the number of road collisions in which somebody was injured also fell to 1,021 in 2019 from 1,240 in 2018, a reduction of 17 per cent.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said: “Each death on the county’s roads is one too many, so it is sad to see an increase in the number of people killed in collisions and highlights the importance of all of us taking responsibility for travelling safely.

“However, it is heartening to see an overall significant reduction in the volume of collisions and the number of people injured, not least the big fall in the number of children among the casualties.

"We are determined to do all we can to support the continuation of this downward trend.

“We have been consulting on plans for a series of works to be financed by the Government’s Safer Roads Fund, which seeks to address issues on the 50 A-roads identified as being the most dangerous in the country.

“Our officers have already delivered a range of improvement projects on those roads in the county which qualified for investment and have been reviewing your feedback on other proposals which we are hopeful can come to fruition soon.

"We are confident these improvements would have a positive effect on future road collision statistics.”

The report also shows that child casualties, involving youngsters up to the age of 15, decreased by 27 per cent from 111 in 2018 to 81 in 2019.