On the roads.......

A DRAMATIC improvement in road safety for children and pedestrians was offset by an overall increase in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county's roads.

The headline indicator for road safety, the number of accidents resulting in death and serious injury, showed the county's roads to be far more dangerous than the rest of the UK. One hundred out of every 100,000 people suffered one of these injuries in 2001 in Herefordshire, compared to 70 from the rest of the UK.

Although the problem is a long term one, some headway was made with a drop in the number of children killed or seriously injured to seven, down from 18 in 2000.

This may have been due to an increased number of schools taking part in Safer Routes to School Project. There was a six per cent decrease in pedestrian accidents and a 25 per cent increase in cycling accidents.

.......crime figures

Domestic violence, burglaries and violent crimes all rose by up to 50 per cent last year while incidents of public disorder, vehicle crime and drug arrests fell.

The biggest rise was in violent crimes with around 16 incidents per 1,000 population recorded in 2001, up from nine the year before.

Together with the number of public disorder incidents, which dropped, the figures are used to gauge the effectiveness of tackling alcohol-related crime. Statistics used to gauge the success of the fight against illegal drug use and drug related crime showed mixed results.

The number of vehicle crimes dropped nearly 20 per cent, domestic burglaries rose by 10 per cent but the number of offenders dealt with for supplying Class A drugs fell to less than one person per 10,000 population, against a target of four offenders.