CALLS have been made to bolster efforts to improve road safety after a rise in the number of fatalities and people seriously injured on Sussex’s roads.

The number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) in Sussex rose by nine per cent, from 921 in 2013 to 1012 in 2014, according to figures presented to East Sussex’s latest transport safety committee meeting.

Councillor Rosalyn St Pierre, a member of the East Sussex Economy, Transport and Environment Security Committee, said the figures reflected the “ruination of lives” and called on authorities and drivers to do more to solve the problem.

Mark Trimmer, operations manager for the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, said un-validated data for 2015 showed the number of KSI going down, but that riders or pillion passengers on motorbikes were the group with the biggest increase in crashes over the previous year.

Road awareness and bike safety courses were offered and publicised at numerous events across Sussex, he said, "along with regular enforcement campaigns to stem the rise".

He added: “We will also direct riders to look at other alternative routes to improve their knowledge and skills such as taking advance riding courses.”

East Sussex saw the highest spike in the number of KSI: 12 per cent (from 339 to 382) between 2014 and 2015. West Sussex rose by 10 per cent (from 437 to 475), and Brighton and Hove by seven per cent (from 145 to 155).

Although the figure for the number of those killed or seriously injured (KSI) has risen overall, the number of fatal incidents alone has dropped across Sussex, however, from 50 to 39.

Crash investigation data indicates the majority of road traffic crashes are due to human error, according to a report to the safety committee.

Mr Trimmer said: “I think it is trying to make it personal and realise that as a result of their actions, the consequences, and that is always going to be a challenge.

“Certainly the message is to think about who else is using the road, so the pedestrians, the pedal cyclists, the road cyclists.”

East Sussex is in the top quartile in the country for KSI roads, according to the latest available figures from Public Health England, using data from 2011-2013.

Mr Trimmer said he believed the high toll in East Sussex may be due to the prevalence of rural roads.

Coun St Pierre said residents of villages around East Sussex frequently asked for speed reductions and was concerned that sometimes requests were rebuffed because the limits were considered unenforceable.

She added it was “weird” that authorities nationally deemed acceptable a certain number of road traffic deaths ever year, adding: “If you look at the statistics nationally, a bus-full of primary school children get killed every year.

“So why do we pussy-foot around pedestrian crossings. It has taken me ten years to get a pedestrian crossing.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner joined the board of the Safer Roads Partnership earlier this year. Her office says it is "one of the main issues that members of the public speak to the PCC about".