AROUND 3,500 people have been injured in collisions on the roads of Bournemouth and Poole in three years.

The news comes in figures which spell out the human and financial cost of road accidents to the area.

In Bournemouth, 19 people lost their lives on the roads in the last three years, and almost 200 suffered serious injuries.

Another 1,677 people suffered minor injuries as a result of the town's 1,900 accidents, which cost the local economy £30 million. One fatal accident is estimated to cost the economy £1.5 million.

Poole saw 10 people killed in road accidents from 2004-06, with 160 seriously injured and 1,694 slightly injured. The casualties were the result of 1,466 accidents.

Bournemouth's road safety manager John Satchwell told councillors the borough's accident rate was "comparable" to other towns.

Mr Satchwell added that about £720,000 was being spent "on addressing, investigating and raising awareness" in Bournemouth.

Targets have been set for reducing the casualty figures with the hope of halving the number of children killed or serious injured.

"We are hopeful of achieving that target and are moving in the right direction," he told the council's scrutiny panel on the environment and economy.

"The trend is for casualties to be falling. There is still much to do and we will continue to focus on accident hot spots."

Mr Satchwell admitted that foreign drivers and cyclists were "a problem in the conurbation," adding: "We are considering with other partners how we need to address this."

Cllr Ian Lancashire said: "The terrible flaw is that you are only doing anything once there has been an accident already."

Former ambulance worker Cllr Ron Whittaker said: "Most accidents are caused by sheer bad driving, with many motorists drunk or using their mobile phones.

"People making phone calls while at the wheel might as well have a glass of whisky in their hand because it's just as lethal."

In Poole the council has committed to helping meet the national casualty reduction target of a 40 per cent decrease in fatal and serious injuries by the year 2010.

The council has seen accident rates improve, with the number dropping from 499 in 2004 to 426 in 2006.

There was no one killed in Poole's roads in 2006, and the annual number of injuries had fallen from 637 to 529 over three years.

Julian McLaughlin, head of transportation services, Borough of Poole, said: "Road safety is a high priority for the borough and we are tackling all available avenues to address the problem.

"As well as engineering measures to make roads safer we are also looking at changing attitudes through publicity and educational initiatives."

The council is set to introduce two new schemes - one aimed at young drivers, one at older road users.