The lives of 138 people have been claimed on Bradford roads since 2005, a new website comparing local authorities’ road safety performance has revealed.

Released by the Department of Transport, the website allows people to compare their council’s road safety performance with those in other parts of the country and paint a picture of what Bradford roads look like.

The website was unveiled by Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond yesterday and sets out collision and casualty figures against population, traffic levels, road length and authority spending to show how local authorities have performed over the last seven years.

It shows in Bradford that 52 road deaths occurred in and around central Bradford with 18 in the Thornton and Queensbury areas. The figures show that since 2005 when there were 26 fatalities, the annual rate has more than halved to 12 in 2011.

Mr Hammond said: “This new comparison website will give residents in Yorkshire and the Humber a more accurate picture of their council's performance in reducing road casualties and will allow councils to make more meaningful assessments of the work they are doing to improve road safety.

“If a council is performing particularly well then I want to see them sharing best practice with others so that they can improve and people across the country can benefit.

“In addition, the Road Safety Observatory will be a valuable resource for all those with an interest in road safety by providing a one-stop-shop for road safety research.”

Up to 74 of those seriously injured or killed on the roads between 2005/11 were aged five years and under and 111 were aged 75 or more.

In 2011, the Bradford population was 509,400 with 1,205 miles of road and £2.571 million spent on road safety, with 1,496 million vehicle miles travelled.

There were 195 collisions on rural roads in 2011 compared to 1,113 on urban roads in the same year. The total number of casualties per 10,000 residents across the district has dropped from 53.80 in 2005, to 36.91 in 2011.

Bradford Council deputy leader, Councillor Imran Hussain, who is in charge of community safety, said: “Obviously we take road safety very seriously as a district, although I am pleased the figures have come down.

“But we need to continue to work hard in that area to bring down those figures further as one death is one too many.”

In comparison, Sheffield City Council, with a population of 546,500, spent £5.627 million on road safety in 2011 and had 30.96 casualties per 10,000 residents in 2011, a drop from 46.20 in 2005.

Go to road-collisions.dft.gov.uk