A new report by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has shown that road deaths continue to fall in the UK with deaths of car occupants and motorcyclists down 16% in 2009 compared to the year before and the UK moving to the top of the world road-safety league table.

The new report shows a growing trend of safer roads in the country; one statistic reveals that despite road traffic having increased two and a half times since 1970, road deaths have fallen by two-thirds in that time. Rural roads are still seen as the most dangerous in the UK as they still account for two-thirds of fatal and serious injuries, despite a 40% drop in deaths on those roads. Fatal accidents on urban roads have fallen by 30% in the past 10 years and fatalities on the UK's motorways have fallen by 35% in that time.

The IAM tables of fatalities round the world showed the UK had 38 fatalities per million of the population, down from 43 in 2008. It leaves the UK at the top of the table, followed by Sweden, the Netherland and Norway. The figure of 38 fatalities per million compares to Portugal, Austria, Estonia and the Slovak Republic who all have the figure in the 70s. Within the European Union the UK has half the road death rates of Austria, Portugal as well as Belgium and Luxembourg.

The report also shows the dramatic reduction in deaths on the roads in the last two years alone. In that time there have been 724 fewer deaths, with 408 fewer deaths in 2008 then there had been in 2007 and 316 fewer in 2009 than in 2008.

The IAM called the figures "staggering" but warned of dangers looming in the shape of government cuts which look set to reduce the spending currently going into making the UK's roads safer.