BOURNEMOUTH and Poole councils have slashed their road safety budgets while Dorset and Hampshire county councils have increased their spending, according to new figures.

The road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) says cuts have been made across the country to services including rehabilitation courses for motoring offenders, training and information for young drivers, safe routes to schools schemes and school crossing patrols.

Spending on road safety saw huge variations.

The Borough of Poole cut funding for road safety and traffic management by more than 26 per cent from £774,000 in 2010/11 to £567,000 in 2011/12.

Bournemouth council spent almost £1.4million on road safety in 2010/11 and plans to spend nearly £1.2million this year; a cut of almost 15 per cent.

But Dorset County Council is increasing its road safety spending by more than 15 per cent from nearly £2.8million to more than £3.2million.

Hampshire County Council is also boosting its road safety budget from £8.4million to nearly £12.3million.