Road travel in Britain 'as dangerous as it was 500 years ago'
Researchers examining coroners' reports from Sussex between 1485 and 1688 found 30 per cent of deaths were a result of injury involving travelling on land.
Accidents included falling into ditches and being hit by a horse and cart.
The study found 413 of around 1,000 adult inquests involved unintentional injuries, with 124 from land travel.
Of those, eight died when falling from horses and carts, while 43 were the result of falling from farm wagons.
Despite centuries of advances in road safety, the research indicates the proportion of road travel accidents has stayed consistent.
Figures from the World Health Organisation show that a quarter of injury deaths in 2000 were as a result of road crashes.
In 2007, there were 182,115 road accidents involving personal injury. Of these, 27,036 involved death or serious injury.
While travel may have been slower back in the times of Elizabeth I, poor health, unsafe roads and badly-made carts contributed to constant road-related problems.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Accidents included falling into ditches and being hit by a horse and cart.
The study found 413 of around 1,000 adult inquests involved unintentional injuries, with 124 from land travel.
Of those, eight died when falling from horses and carts, while 43 were the result of falling from farm wagons.
Despite centuries of advances in road safety, the research indicates the proportion of road travel accidents has stayed consistent.
Figures from the World Health Organisation show that a quarter of injury deaths in 2000 were as a result of road crashes.
In 2007, there were 182,115 road accidents involving personal injury. Of these, 27,036 involved death or serious injury.
While travel may have been slower back in the times of Elizabeth I, poor health, unsafe roads and badly-made carts contributed to constant road-related problems.