New government figures show that the number of people killed on Britain’s roads rose in the first half of the year.
Safety campaigners say the rising death toll could be linked to cuts in state spending on highway maintenance.
The news also throws into question goverment proposals to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph.
Fatalities up almost 7 per cent
Department for Transport statistics released this week showed that 940 people were killed in the first six months of 2011 as a result of road traffic accidents, compared to 881 during the same period in 2010.
This represents a rise of 6.7 per cent.
In the first three months of this year the number of deaths rose 8.7 per cent to 440 while in the second quarter of 2011 fatalities were up 7.1 per cent to 500.
However, the greater increase between January and March 2011 compared to same period in 2010 has been partly attributed to the fact that the UK experienced much more severe weather at the start of 2010, which kept the number of car journeys down.
AA president Edmund King said: “The last two winters have had a major effect on road deaths, with people not going out and deaths falling accordingly.
"The recession and the high cost of fuel have also led to a reduction in journeys.
“But in the second quarters when weather is less extreme, we see the first clear indications that the tremendous reductions in deaths in 2010 may owe more to the weather and fewer journeys than anything else.”
Cuts to blame?
King added: “It is now time to consider whether road deaths are firmly on the rise again, as cuts to road maintenance and road safety budgets and to traffic policing begin to bite.”
Robert Gifford from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said: “While we should be careful about drawing too strong a conclusion from two quarters, this nevertheless should sound alarm bells for ministers.
“The rise in deaths occurred at a time when the economy continued to flatline.
"While some of the overall fall in deaths over the last few years was related to the recession, this rise suggests that the key messages about safe road use are having less effect among road users.
“We must hope that the new strategic framework for road safety will help to confirm the government’s commitment to making roads safer for all classes of road user.
"Ministers need to give a firm lead on this issue.”
Cyclist casualties also rise
Gifford said that figures showing a 5 per cent rise in accidents involving bicycle users was also of concern.
“These have risen in nine of the last 14 quarters. When we saw similar rises in motorcycling casualties in the early 2000s, the government set up a motorcycle advisory group to look at how to improve their safety.
"Perhaps we need a similar group to assess how to improve cycle safety and maintain the steady increase in cycle usage.”
