Death toll of the young (From This is Hampshire)

Death toll of the young

11:50am Sunday 22nd November 2009 in

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MORE than a third of people killed in road traffic accidents in the south are young, figures have revealed.

Statistics published by the Department for Transport (DfT) show there have been 230 fatalities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight over the past five years – of which 82 (35 per cent) were aged 25 and under.

The victims included pedestrians, motorcyclists and passengers, as well as motorists.

The data, released in response to a Parliamentary Question, prompted an admission that the Government is concerned about a ‘small minority’ of young drivers who are putting themselves and others at risk.

A breakdown of the figures showed that the New Forest recorded the largest number of road deaths of any area in the region between 2004 and 2008, with 62 people dying on the district's roads, 24 of them young.

It was followed by Winchester (51 deaths in total), Test Valley (40, of which 18 were young), the Isle of Wight (33) and Southampton (20).