Plans to slash road safety budgets by up to 64% overnight will lead to accidents killing and maiming more children and other people, campaigners warned yesterday.

Details of swingeing cuts to road safety and maintenance budgets are revealed today, as Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones gives evidence to the Assembly's Enterprise Committee.

Experts say the money saved could be outweighed by increased NHS costs for treating accident victims.

Compensation claims could also rise - further pressurising councils' cash and staff time - as more people are injured or suffer vehicle damage.

This year the Welsh Assembly Government is providing £8.3m to cover the running costs of the Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership and other bodies tasked with improving road safety. That funding will drop to £2m by 2013-14, starting with a 64% cut next year.

Capital funding, for schemes such as better layouts at dangerous junctions, will drop by 40% next year.

Joel Hickman of road safety charity Brake said: "A 64% cut is huge. There's no doubt that's going to have a big impact on Welsh casualty rates. It's just not possible to bring rates down with that level of cut.

"The likely prospect is that more children will be killed or disabled. You can't make such drastic cuts to the road safety budget without an impact on people killed and seriously injured, and that will include children.

"This is going to have a devastating effect on families across Wales and the economy. Some parents may be too distraught to go back to work after they've lost a child."

Increasing road defects also make accidents more likely. Worn or badly drained surfaces offer poor skid-resistance. Potholes can be hazardous, especially to bikes.

"The funded schemes and initiatives will continue to support the aims of the Road Safety Strategy for Wales," says Mr Jones in written evidence to the committee.

"This will include funding, at a reduced level, the Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership, grants to RoSPA [Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents] Wales for road safety education, training, publicity information and advice, and grants to local authorities to finance local road safety initiatives."

Mr Hickman said: "Each road death costs £1.7m to the economy. Taking action to reduce road deaths saves money in the long term.

"Serious injuries, including paralysis, loss of limbs and brain damage, require intensive care over many years, sometimes lifelong social care. I urge the minister to rethink and look at the likely consequences of this cut, socially and financially."

Tim Shallcross of the Institute of Advanced Motorists said Wales had a higher proportion than the rest of the UK of rural single-carriageway trunk roads - the type with the worst accident record.

"Savings in road maintenance will result in vehicles hitting potholes or losing their grip," he said.

"Any savings in the road budget could be outweighed by increases in the health budget, looking after people injured in accidents."

Many Welsh roads had maintenance backlogs before the recent cold winter's ravages, but capital funding for local transport will fall by 64% by 2013-14. Mr Jones says this reflects lower "grants to local authorities for local road maintenance backlog" and reduced funding requirements for road schemes.

The County Surveyors Society Wales, representing highway engineers, warned that maintenance cuts could be a false economy. Chairman Dewi Williams said: "It's bound to have an effect on safety, which will lead to more compensation claims.

"We also miss out on making 'a stitch in time'. The cost of improving the roads in years to come will increase. We can spend £1 now or £10 in five years."

The cuts raise questions about the future of Wales' fixed speed cameras, which need updating to digital technology at a cost of £36,000 each. Mr Shallcross said manufacturers had stopped making film for the existing cameras. "If people get to know the yellow boxes are empty, there won't be a deterrent."

A spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly Government said, "There is no getting around the scale of the cuts in funding from the Westminster government.

"However, Wales' transport network will continue to receive investment via the Safe Routes in Communities programme, support for rural transport and the Safety Camera partnership, as well as the Local Road Maintenance Grant."

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/11/24/huge-cuts-in-road-safety-budgets-will-cost-lives-91466-27703734/#ixzz16CTE3QGw