THE number of people killed or seriously injured on Cheshire’s roads increased by more than 20 per cent over the past year despite the country being in lockdown for half that time.

Cllr Lynn Riley, (Cheshire West and Chester Council, Con) asked Police and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer the reason for the worrying increase.

“It quite clearly says in our papers that up to May of 2021 our KSI data (killed or seriously injured) has gone up, and gone up quite significantly by 22 per cent,” said Cllr Riley at Friday’s meeting of the police and crime panel in Crewe.

“And the tragedy behind this is that we've had 24* additional people die on our roads, not just been seriously injured and have life changing experience, but 24 additional deaths in a time period when we've actually been at home for half of the year.

“I don't know what sits behind those 24 deaths and I'm really quite interested in it.”

Mr Dwyer said he would discuss the matter more with panel members at an informal meeting but added that the police definition of a serious injury differed to what he, personally, would consider to be a serious injury.

Referring to a meeting he had been at the previous night with residents in Wilmslow to discuss speeding problems, he said: “One of the police officers there was telling us that you get classed as serious injury if you're in hospital overnight, that’s not my definition of a serious injury.”

Earlier in the meeting he had said speeding was a major concern among residents across the borough and he had received numerous letters about it since taking office.

*We have been asked to point out by the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office that Cllr Riley mistakenly stated there were 24 additional road deaths at the meeting. She should have said there were five.