TWO people were killed in crashes on Southend’s road and 79 people were seriously injured last year, according to new Government figures.

The new statistics have revealed more people are being killed or seriously injured in crashes in Essex roads, despite a drop in road casualties.

The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured in Southend has increased from 66 - the yearly average from 2010 to 2014 - to 81 last year.

This is despite the overall number of road casualties in Southend, which includes minor injuries, decreasing by 34 per cent over that time, to 353.

One of the fatal crashes happened in Queensway, Southend, on October 25 last year, where a 32-year-old man from Billericay died in hospital after his bike hit the central reservation.

The second fatal crash happened at the junction of New Road and Hadleigh Road in Leigh in July, where Heidi Hyde, 47, sadly died.

The Department for Transport data shows three people were also killed and 68 people seriously injured on Thurrock’s roads in 2017.

The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured has increased from 64 per year, the yearly average from 2010 to 2014, to 71 last year.

This is despite the number of road casualties in Thurrock, which includes minor injuries, decreasing by 22 per cent over that time, to 428.

Figures for Essex, which exclude Southend and Thurrock, show 41 people were killed and 734 people seriously injured on Essex’s roads in 2017.

The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured has increased from 617, the yearly average from 2010 to 2014, to 775 last year.

This is despite the number of road casualties in Essex, which includes minor injuries, decreasing by 14 per cent over that time to 3,582.

A spokesman for the Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP), said: “One person killed or seriously injured is too many and the SERP, along with Essex Highways, work constantly to reduce casualties on the county’s roads.

“Safety engineers use collision data to identify sites where highway engineering schemes can improve safety. The SERP also invests resources in education and public information with the aim of having a positive influence on road user behaviour.”

Andrew Moring, Southend councillor for infrastructure, said: “We are pleased that, overall, road casualties are decreasing in Southend.

“The recorded numbers of people seriously injured on our roads, however, has increased since the 2010 to 2014 period and this is largely as the result of a change in November 2015 in the way the severity of casualties is calculated. This new system improves the accuracy of recording injury severity and we therefore believe the 2010 to 2014 figures underestimated the true picture of casualties on our roads.

“We have modelled the effect of the change in recording system, and once we allow for this change, the number of people seriously injured on our roads is fairly stable, showing a very slight reduction over the last few years.”