SURREY police are aiming to significantly reduce the number of fatal and serious accidents on the A331, A31 and A323 corridor - and in seven other areas - after a 43 per cent rise in the number of road deaths.
Between April 1999 and March 2002, 71 people were either killed or seriously injured on these three roads.
Now police aim to reduce that figure to 67 in the next 12 months by getting tough on motorists who drive at inappropriate speeds, while under the influence of drink or drugs or while not wearing a seat belt. Seventy-five per cent of passengers who died had not buckled up.
Surrey's assistant chief constable Frank Clarke told The Herald: "In this day and age it's astonishing that six of those eight passengers who died weren't wearing seat belts. There's a great need for road user education."
Asst chief constable Clarke added that the rise in the latest fatal and serious accident figures came after the force had made good progress trying to reduce such incidents.
News of the crackdowns in eight so-called red zones came after it was revealed that between April 2002 and March 2003 80 people lost their lives in car accidents on Surrey's roads, up from 56 on the previous year and a rise of 42.85 per cent.
Surrey Police Authority figures show that in the 12 months to March, 70 car accidents claimed those 80 lives. The previous year saw 56 deaths from 51 crashes.
The number of accidents that resulted in the death of more than one person rose from four to seven. Three of those so-called multiple fatality accidents claimed the lives of three people, while four resulted in the deaths of two people.
A disproportionately high number (16 or 20 per cent) of last year's road accident fatalities were motorcyclists. Motorcyclists account for just one per cent of vehicles on the road. The report notes that as in 2001-2, "the majority" were aged in their 20s and 30s. Additionally, one pillion passenger died.
Surrey County Council and Surrey Police joined forces this week to try to reduce the number of motorcyclists killed.
They held a seminar on Monday to find ways of targeting motorcyclists' behaviour and highlight their vulnerability.
Surrey County Council senior road safety officer Gareth Tuffery said: "A large proportion of motorcycle casualties are teenagers or young men who may be riding too fast. But there are also older recreational riders with the money to buy more powerful bikes, which are equally dangerous in the wrong hands."
Chief superintendent Bill Harding said: "There are very few dangerous motorcycles but a large number of of dangerous motorcycle riders."
One in five of those killed on Surrey's roads were pedestrians. The report says that like the year before, a "significant number" of pedestrians who died were elderly. Eight of the 16 were over 70 and most of the deaths were in urban areas.
Four of the 80 deaths (five per cent) were cyclists, with their ages ranging from 11 to 52. But motorists account for 32 (40 per cent) of the 80 who died. Ages ranged from 19 to 82, with 13 fatalities under 30 and 12 over 50. Thirty-one of the 80 deaths happened on roads in east Surrey
Police have identified seven key reasons for fatal accidents - motorcyclist inexperience and/or driver error, tired drivers, pedestrians crossing at inappropriate times, drunk driving or driving while on drugs, speeding, inappropriate speed and failure to wear seat belts.