A NEW system for collecting data on accidents will stop short of demands for checks on whether poor servicing was to blame.

The move is designed to identify more clearly the cause of crashes on UK roads which claim more than 3,500 lives a year, but only goes so far.

Road Safety Minister David Jamieson revealed the plan in the House of Commons last month. He was responding to an enquiry from Chris Ruane, Labour MP for the Vale of Clwyd, as to when the Government would introduce procedures to record the number of fatal car accidents that occur as a result of poor servicing of cars.

Jamieson said: ‘From January 1, 2005, the national system for the collection of data on accidents involving personal injury has included questions on contributory factors to accidents.

‘This will provide information on whether vehicle defects contributed to an accident, although it will not distinguish whether the defect was the result of poor servicing.’

Service standards among fleets can very enormously, with complaints from some businesses that garage technicians have ignored important checks during routine maintenance, or in some cases made problems worse.