Road deaths and injuries in Northern Ireland have been slashed by nearly 20 per cent due to a new safety strategy.
The offensive against speeding motorists and drink drivers has also led to a third less children being killed or seriously hurt.
But with the 10-year blueprint demanding even higher reductions, the North's Environment Minister Angela Smith warned against complacency.
The plan, drawn up by police chiefs and both the Department of Environment and Department of Regional Development, has identified objectives right up to 2012.
Its first annual report disclosed 1,435 people were killed or seriously injured on Northern Ireland's roads last year.
That represents an 18 per cent reduction on 1,750, the five-year average from 1996-2000. Similarly, the number of child victims fell from 250 to 171 (31 per cent) during the same period.
Yet the strategy's eventual target is to cut the overall figure by per cent, with campaigners also bidding to halve the number for children.
PA