Fifty-four people have lost their lives in 50 fatal accidents on the Island's roads over the last five years.

The statistics were released by Home Affairs Minister Martyn Quayle (pictured), following a written Tynwald question from Dudley Butt MLC.

He wanted to know how many people had been fatally injured on the road, how many RTCs involving fatalities there'd been and also the number of dangerous driving and speeding offences recorded in each of the last five years.

Edward Oldham reports (audio file attached):

The figures show in the years from 2003 to 2007 there were 12, 13, 12, eight and nine people killed respectively.

In those same years there had been nine, 12, 12, eight and nine fatal accidents.

The number of dangerous driving offences recorded were as high as 26 in 2005 and as low as 13 in 2004, with 19 last year.

Those exceeding the speed limit ranged from 692 in 2006 to 342 in 2004; 614 were recorded last year.

Mr Quayle said the 2004 figure had been so low because the police changed its approach, leading to a drop in enforcement activity, however this was quickly rectified.