The Department of Transport has produced its road casualty figures for 2008. They show that the number of deaths on British roads fell 14% to a record low of 2,538 people. There was an 11% decrease in pedestrian deaths and 16% decrease for motorcyclists. There was however a small increase in deaths amongst children and cyclists which will now be the DoT's target for this year.

The statistics also showed that there were 231,000 injuries or deaths last year on Britain's roads - a 7% decrease from 2007 figures.

These statistics are particularly impressive when taking into account the recent European Road Assessment Programme which found that 58% of Britain's 'A' roads were rated as either poor or neutral for safety. The Campaign for Safe Road Design estimates that 1,000 deaths per year could be prevented by use of better signs, road layouts and lines.

Simon Pinner, Director of Box Legal comments: 'These figures show a good improvement but there is clearly work still to be done to reverse the increase in deaths among the most vulnerable - children and cyclists. The high total number of injuries - nearly a quarter of a million - also underlines the continued need for a robust and fair compensation industry.'