The number of people killed on Norfolk’s roads fell last year to its lowest number for more than a decade.

Department for Transport provisional annual figures for reported road casualties show 19 people lost their lives in crashes, a significant drop from the 39 deaths in 2020 and 36 in pre-Covid 2019.

However the total number of people killed or seriously injured in the county was 386, unchanged from 2020, while in total there were 1,799 casualties as a result of road traffic collisions.

Chief Inspector Jonathan Chapman, head of the roads and armed policing team, said: “While we are pleased to see a reduction in the numbers of those who are killed or seriously injured on our roads in Norfolk, one death is always too many.

“We remain committed to road safety as a priority, but we know there are likely to be a number of factors that are likely to have contributed to the decrease.”

A mapped detailed breakdown of Norfolk road crash casualties by local authority area between January and June 2021 shows the highest number was seen in Breckland, though this was 23pc lower than the pre-Covid average.

Second highest was Norwich, followed by King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Broadland, South Norfolk and Great Yarmouth.

Despite its rural roads and popularity with visitors North Norfolk was safest, though the area doesn’t contain any major regional A roads.

Earlier this month Norfolk’s police and crime commissioner and chief constable pledged to make motorists speeding through villages the focus of police campaigns to make rural roads safer.

Meanwhile more than 150 roads across Norfolk are to be made safer, with nearly £1.5m to be spent on improvements such as traffic calming and speed limit signs.

A monthly breakdown shows the percentage of casualties decreased most in January, with a fall of 45pc compared to 2020, and a decrease of almost half compared to 2017 to 2019 average.

Although the number of casualties increased for April, May and June compared to the same months in 2020, that was likely to be mainly due to lockdown restrictions in 2020.

“There is a notable decrease in road casualties in 2020 which will largely be due to the national lockdown restrictions placed on the country,” said Chief Inspector Chapman.

“This has reduced the traffic levels on the roads during these times and is likely to change as traffic returns to pre-pandemic levels.”

He said police and the road safety partnership were seeking to further reduce serious injuries and casualties through both enforcement and regular awareness campaigns around issues like drug driving and mobile phone use.