UK drivers 'safest in Europe'

(First Edition)

Britain has the lowest rate of car driver and passenger deaths in Europe, according to new figures from the Department of Transport. If all road deaths, including pedestrians, are assessed only three countries have a better record, a report on road deaths in 1990 said.

The study compares all road accident fatalities in the 12 European Community states, nine other European countries, the United States and Japan. It found that in Britain the number of car users killed was 7.1 per billion vehicle kilometres - the lowest in Europe.

Taking all road deaths into account, only the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden had a better record than the UK's figure of 94 road accident deaths per million head of population.