HUNDREDS of people were killed or seriously injured on Cumbria’s roads last year, new figures show.

Road safety charity Brake has called on the Government to strengthen roads policing, following what it described as a decade of “appalling stagnation” in the number of fatalities on Britain’s roads.

In 2019, 328 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents in Cumbria, Department for Transport (DfT) figures show.

This was a decrease of five per cent on the year before, when there were 344.

Of last year’s total, 30 were fatalities – up from 25 the year before.

The figures represent all accidents that happened on a public road and involved at least one vehicle, horse rider or cyclist.

Across Britain, 29,588 people were killed or seriously injured last year – a slight decrease on the year before.

The DfT warns against comparing year-on-year figures however, due to changes in 2016 to the way some forces record the severity of injuries.

Joshua Harris, director of campaigns at Brake, said: “For nearly a decade now, we have seen an appalling stagnation in the number of deaths on our roads and it’s high-time for the Government to take responsibility and act. We need to rid our roads of dangerous drink and drug driving, introduce safe speeds in our towns, cities and rural areas and reinvigorate roads policing, which has been decimated by funding cuts.”

In Cumbria, the total number of casualties, which includes non-serious injuries, fell from 2,029 to 1,345 between 2009 and 2019.

A DfT spokesman said the figures were encouraging, adding: “We continue to work hard to improve road safety – delivering on more than 70 actions announced last year in the Road Safety Statement to tackle road safety issues for people, throughout their lifetime.

Cllr Keith Little, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, said: “It’s always a tragic situation when these figures come out. They highlight how busy our roads are, and of course the Cumbria County Council take them very seriously. It’s always a sobering fact at this time of year when these come out. But our roads are safe and in good condition, and a lot of work is being done during lockdown to make our roads much better."