A Department for Transport report, which was obtained by The Times, revealed that fatality rates have improved only marginally in the past decade.

Hospital figures show that serious injuries from road crashes have changed little since 1996, while road deaths fell from 3,412 to 3,172 between 1998 and 2006, a decline of 7 per cent.

Comparing other forms of transport, the study found the average person has a one in 65,000 chance of being killed on the railways and a one in 7.6 million chance of being killed in an aircraft.

These figures appear to challenge the government's assertions of improving road safety standards.

Britain had the best road safety record of any European country in 2000 but is now behind the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, all of which have lower death rates per 100,000 residents.

The DfT report also revealed motorcyclists are 45 times more likely to be killed per journey than car users, and cyclists are four times more likely to be killed but pedestrians have almost the same risk as car users per trip.