SHOCKING new road casualty figures reveal that the number of people being killed or seriously injured on Hampshire’s roads is on the increase.

Some 846 people were seriously hurt or lost their lives following accidents on the county’s roads last year – up eight per cent on 2008 when there were 782 victims.

The figures for 2009, released by the Government, show the sharpest rise came in the number of pedal cyclists injured or hurt which was up 27 per cent – with 138 people in the past 12 months compared to 109 in the previous year.

The number of car users who died or were critically hurt also leapt up 11 per cent, with 321 casualties compared to 289 in 2008. The number of children killed or seriously injured on the roads increased by six per cent, from 72 to 76, while there was a two per cent increase in the same area for motorcyclists, with 226 people hurt or killed last year compared to 221 in 2008.

In Southampton the number of pedestrians hurt in road accidents went up by 29 per cent from 98 to 126.

The increase comes at a time when road safety charities are criticising the Government for not doing enough to reduce the number of preventable deaths on British roads.

Now road safety charity Brake is calling on the Government to urgently act to slash road deaths and injuries.

Julie Townsend, campaigns director, said: “For every statistic in this report, a family has suffered unimaginably. These deaths are sudden and violent, and yet they are preventable.

That’s why we are calling on the Government to take a bold stance, outline what their plans are for tackling this daily carnage, and adopt a long term vision of reducing road deaths to zero.”

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) suggest pedestrians and road users failing to look properly is a major contributing factor in road casualties.

The report found that motorcyclists and car users failed to look properly in 38 per cent of incidents reported to the police.

Compounding these damning statistics, the Government has for the first time released an estimated cost of road deaths and injuries. The figures given have put the total cost to the economy at £33 billion in 2009, almost double their initial estimate.