Road safety in Powys is in crisis and if something isn’t done about it, it will continue to impact on the lives of residents and visitors, as well as the local economy, a safety group has said.

The Strategic Road Safety Group, which was established by the Powys Community Safety Partnership last year, was given the remit to identify options and initiatives at reducing the amount of people killed and seriously injured on Powys roads.

The group consists of representatives from Powys County Council, Dyfed Powys Police, Welsh Government and the Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner.

The group’s findings and recommendations will be shared with the Welsh Government’s Climate Change Deputy Minister.

Cllr Richard Church, Cabinet Member for a Safer Powys and Cllr Jackie Charlton, Cabinet Member for a Greener Powys, who were both on the safety group, said: “In the last ten years, nearly 100 people have died on our roads in Powys.

“Many hundreds more lives have been damaged, not just through serious injury, but through loss, trauma, and bereavement, leading to a huge cost both to our communities and to our public services, that is why we are calling this a crisis.

“It’s not a new crisis, it’s been with us for many years, and despite the efforts of all the public services over those years to improve the design of our roads, to educate road users, and to enforce measures to stop dangerous driving, the crisis persists.

“We know we have a severe problem, so we have come together with our partners in the Police, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Go Safe and the Trunk Road Agency to look at what is going wrong in Powys and what we can do together to stop the loss of lives on our roads.”

The call comes weeks after Montgomeryshire MS, Russell George, renewed calls for safety improvements along the A44 between Aberystwyth and Llangurig.

He said: “Welsh Government have at last recognised the need for improvements due to issues such as road safety, junction efficiency and the overall condition of the road.

“In November, an update from the Minister to me confirmed that Welsh Government officials are expecting to complete a study by April.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said in response: “We are committed to improving trunk road safety along the A44 and are developing a scheme in line with the criteria set out by the roads review panel’s recommendations.”