BRITAIN'S drivers are getting safer, year after year.

In the last decade, road deaths have fallen by a quarter.

To make this news even better, the improvement has come while the roads are getting busier.

There are 20 per cent more cars in use, rising from 22.7 million in 1991 to over 27 million in 2000 the latest figures available.

Better still, road deaths have tumbled by nearly a half in the last 20 years, even though the number of cars in use has almost doubled. Deaths in 1980 totalled 6,010.

By 2000, the number had fallen to 3,409. Yet in that period, the number of cars in use soared from 15.6 million in 1981 to 27.2 million in 2000.

Before we spend too much time congratulating ourselves, it's worth noting that manufacturers have played a major part, and today's cars come with ever more safety equipment.

Despite the improvements, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents insists that our overall standard of driving is far too poor.

Older drivers tend to blame younger drivers, while the youngsters accuse 'oldies'.

Young drivers were accused by 55 per cent of the driving population, while a further 31 per cent criticised older drivers. However, RoSPA picks out young male drivers as one of three problem areas, along with learner drivers and novices in the first two years after passing their driving test.

There is a big difference between learning to drive and merely learning how to pass the test, and RoSPA believes that learner drivers would benefit from more time on the road and a more demanding test.

Other factors play a part. A spokesman said: "You'd hope that improvements in car design would help, and getting victims to hospital more quickly."