NEW figures suggest that Wiltshire roads are becoming safer with a sharp drop in the number of serious and fatal accidents.

Last year, the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in the county fell from the 1994 to 1998 average of 315 to 277, and the number of children killed or seriously injured has dropped from 32 to 14 a massive 56 per cent.

Wiltshire County Council is making huge inroads into meeting Government objectives for 2010.

Local authorities have been tasked with reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured in accidents by 40 per cent over the next seven years and cut the number of children harmed by half.

Andrew Wyatt, the council's traffic and road safety manager, said: "This is the sixth year in a row that we've reduced the numbers and our success is greater than most other authorities.

"To help achieve the targets we have been carrying out things like road safety audits and raising awareness.

"Reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured by 14 per cent is not bad at this early stage. For the last three to four years we've had no more than one child death per year, but one child death is one too many and we won't be satisfied until there are none."

In a bid to reduce the number of accidents involving children, the council has set aside £50,000 to develop safer routes to many secondary schools around the county.

Twenty sites in the region have also been identified for potential road safety improvements over the next year as part of the Local Transport Plan, at a total cost of £200,000.

A further £120,000 will also be made available through the traffic management revenue budget for schemes including pedestrian crossings.

Mr Wyatt said: "Accident prevention is not all about engineering. The general feeling is that the biggest influence is changing driving behaviour. Around 95 per cent of accidents are due to driver error.

"You cannot put traffic calming measures on all roads in Britain but you can educate people on how to drive safely in the prevailing conditions."

Vicarage Street in Warm-inster and the road outside Holt School are two of the areas which will benefit from road safety improvements.

Warminster town councillor John Syme, who campaigned for the safety work in Vicarage Street, said: "Anything which reduces the number of injuries and deaths is welcome but there is still work to be done to improve the figures."