Road safety charity reveals hundreds of road accidents involve injuries in Cumbria

Road Safety Week runs from 20 to 26 November Credit: PA

Road accidents are responsible for one in five trauma admissions to hospitals in parts of the region, according to new figures.

The road safety charity Brake says in Cumbria and Lancashire there were 365 road accidents last year involving injuries.

The figures have been released at the start of the UK's biggest road safety event, Road Safety Week, which runs from 20 to 26 November.

The campaign urges drivers to slow down and reduce the number of crashes on the roads.

The figures show that road crashes are the second largest cause of trauma admissions.

Further analysis of more than 75,000 road crash patients in the past ten years shows that:

  • Young people are the largest affected age group (21%).

  • Children are the biggest age group of pedestrian casualties (17%).

  • Motorcyclists make up the highest number of admissions (25%).

  • Cyclists make up the least amount of admissions (16%).

  • 32% of pedestrians and 24% of cyclists suffered serious head injuries..

  • Speeding was a factor in 22% of crashes in Britain last year.

The region with the highest number of road collision patients was the Thames Valley, with 25%.

The Director of Campaigns for Brake said: