Rt Hon David Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, has responded to the study by Road Safety Analysis, which shows that children living in poorer areas are more likely to be road accident victims than children living in more affluent communities.
This finding chimes with figures published in A Tale of Two Cities, the study of inequalities in Sheffield authored by Professor Danny Dorling and the Department of Human Geography team at the University of Sheffield in 2009.
In the Sheffield study, between 2005 and 2007, there were 125 road traffic casualties in the Shiregreen area of the city, while there were fewer than six in better-off Worrall. Over 700 people were killed or injured on the roads in the old Sheffield Brightside constituency in that two-year period – a figure which was 143% lower in Nick Clegg’s better-off constituency of Sheffield Hallam.
The Road Safety Analysis study compared accident casualties in Preston with better-off Kensington and Chelsea in London.
Mr Blunkett said: “Road Safety Analysis have conducted a valuable study, which reinforces the conclusion in A Tale of Two Cities that this disparity does not simply apply between different parts of the country – it also applies within cities themselves.
“The problem can only be made worse by a wrong-headed distribution of resources by local authorities – as is the case with the Liberal Democrat leaders of Sheffield City Council. They continue to distribute money equally to all areas of the city to tackle traffic blackspots, regardless of evidence and need.
“Paul Scriven and his team should immediately take heed of this further evidence that poorer areas of the city are at much greater risk of death and injury on the roads, change their policy and stop withdrawing funds from the north of Sheffield.”
ENDS
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