THE number of deaths on Merseyside’s roads has plummeted 41%, according to police figures.

Over the past 12 months, 27 people lost their lives on the region’s roads while 484 people were seriously injured, many as a result of excess speed.

The previous year, 46 people were killed and 500 seriously injured.

Merseyside Police said they have issued 11,792 speeding fines from 2010-11 – nearly 700 more than 2009-10 – but a safety campaigner last night said the issue was more complex than using tickets to save lives.

Advanced driving instructor and Road Peace campaigner David Midmer’s son Nathan, 22, was knocked down and killed by a car in 2000.

He said: “The figures are encouraging. When I first got involved with Road Peace 10 years ago, we were looking at 10 people being killed on the roads nationally every day. Last year it was five, which was still five too many.

“But let’s be realistic – the reason fewer people are killed is not that people are driving better but that we have a lot of in-car safety measures which we used not to have.

“We also have faster responses by emergency services and advances in medical technology. While it is encouraging to see fewer people are being killed, many are surviving with life-changing injuries.”

Mr Midmer, from Wirral, said: “I would not say fixed-penalty notices are doing nothing.

“For a lot of people, a fine is enough to slow them down, but for others a fine is not enough and that is when we have to use the points system to get drivers into education.

“People only come to speed courses when they have clocked up points on their licences and they go away with a much better idea of what they should not be doing.”

This month, the roads policing unit will be focusing on speeding motorists.

Sergeant Paul Mountford, of Merseyside Police, said: “Breaking the speed limit undoubtedly causes road collisions.

“We are determined to change the mindset of people who think ‘it won’t happen to me’ and put their foot on the accelerator when they should be putting it on the brake.

“We see the carnage caused by collisions and the devastation faced by families as a result of road collisions and we are committed to making our roads safer.

“While we have seen a significant reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads, just one death is a tragedy and we are determined to see more lives saved.”

Earlier this week, a service was held at Liverpool Cathedral to remember road victims.