A TWENTY per cent leap in the number of road fatalities in a safety camera area has bucked the national trend of the lowest death toll since records began.

New Department for Transport (DfT) figures revealed 30 people were killed on Cleveland's roads last year, compared to 25 the previous year.

In sharp contrast, the number of road deaths across the country fell to 3,221 last year - the lowest figure since records were first kept in 1926 and eight per cent lower than in 2003.

The total also fell in County Durham (from 42 to 32) and in North Yorkshire (from 88 to 80), although there was also a small rise in Northumberland (from 65 to 66).

The DfT has set a target to cut the number of road deaths by 40 per cent by 2010, compared to the 1994-8 average, at the same time as the volume of traffic on Britain's roads is growing.

But a Cleveland spokeswoman denied its figures showed it was struggling to hit Government targets, because the number of serious injuries fell sharply last year, from 295 to 222.

She said: "The Government concentrates on the overall figures for seriously injured or killed. These figures were 320 for 2003 and 252 for 2004 - a significant drop.

"We are on good target for another significant drop again this year, with the half-yearly figures at 79, including seven fatalities."

Figures for accidents and fatalities on the 52 roads covered by speed traps in Cleveland are gathered by the safety camera partnership over a period from April to March and will not be available for some time.

But spokesman Mick Bennett said: "For the third year running, Cleveland has the fewest number of casualties on all roads."

Ministers are steering through parliament the Road Safety Bill, which will crack down further on drink-driving and speeding.

Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman said the "substantial drop" in the number of deaths was encouraging, but he warned against complacency.

He said: "Nearly nine people a day still died in road accidents last year and that figure is still too high."

The number of road deaths peaked at 7,820 in 1964 - nearly 250 per cent higher than last year. Even in 1926, there were 4,886 fatalities.

However, last year's figures were marred by an 18 per cent rise in cyclist deaths, condemned as "shocking" by the road safety charity Brake.