NEARLY 550 people were killed or seriously injured in road accidents in Surrey last year, figures show.

Department for Transport data shows 36 people were killed and 508 seriously injured on Surrey’s roads in 2017. In 21 of those accidents, children were taken to hospital.

The overall figure for people killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads has decreased from 602, the yearly average from 2010 to 2014, to 544 last year.

The number of road casualties in Surrey, which includes minor injuries, has also decreased by 15 per cent over that time, to 4,614 incidents.

Broadly, the number of injuries on the road has been decreasing across England as car technology improves.

In Surrey, 11 pedestrians and two cyclists were killed in 2017. Of those seriously injured, 65 were pedestrians, 92 were cyclists and 130 were riding motorbikes.