The number of people killed or injured in road accidents in Kingston is at its lowest in three years.

Provisional UK road casualty figures in 2012 have been released by the Department for Transport, showing the number of accidents on British roads has fallen to its lowest level since records began.

They show that one person died in Kingston as the result of crash last year, while 33 people were seriously injured and 388 people slightly injured.

That is 21 fewer overall accidents than in 2011, when two people died and 42 were seriously injured, and five less casualties than in 2010, when there were 427 in total.

Nationally, the number of casualties in Great Britain fell by eight per cent compared to 2011, to 1,754 from 1,901.

But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has expressed concern over the number of cyclists being killed, with the number of child fatalities more than doubling, from six in 2011 to 13 in 2012.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: “The fact that most of the increase in cycling deaths was among child cyclists is particularly worrying.

“As well as increasing the provision of cyclist training and trying to make the roads safer for cyclists, we also need to hammer home the message to drivers to keep their speed down, watch out for cyclists and give them enough room on the road.”

Figures for cyclist casualties in Kingston were not available in the provisional figures, but will be outlined in a full report due in September.