ROAD deaths in Britain have more than halved in the past decade with the latest national figures revealing fatalities have reached a record low.

Statistics from the ­Department for Transport show there were 1,713 road deaths across Britain in 2013, a fall of 2.3 per cent compared to 2012. It continues a downward trend in which fatalities on Britain's roads have been cut by more than 51 per cent in 10 years, from a peak of 3,508 in 2003.

Improvements in car safety are credited with reducing the death rate, along with declines in drink-driving and initiatives such as speed cameras and the proliferation of 20mph zones in built-up areas.

Car occupants - ­drivers and passengers - continue to account for the highest proportion of road deaths, with car crashes claiming 785 lives in 2013.

Pedestrians are the second most common road casualty, with 398 killed in 2013 compared to 420 in 2012 and 774 in 2003.

Motorbike riders and passengers accounted for 19.3 per cent of road deaths in Britain - a comparatively high rate considering they make up only one per cent of the traffic on Britain's roads.

Deaths among cyclists have also fallen. Since 2000, the number of cyclists killed reached a peak of 148 in 2005 and its lowest level - 104 - in 2009. In 2013, cyclists' deaths stood at 109, down from 118 in 2012.

l Police have named a man who died after a two-car crash as Malcolm Stephen, from Inverallochy. The 52-year-old died at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary following the incident on Sunday evening on the B9033 at the junction with the B9107 at Inverallochy, Aberdeenshire.

The collision, at 7.10pm, involved a green Vauxhall Astra and a gold Renault Scenic.

Three other people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.