The government has launched a new website that allows people to compare their local council's road safety performance with other areas of the UK.

It sets out collision and casualty figures based on population, road length, authority spending levels and traffic statistics.

The site covers the last seven years and puts fatalities into context, as well as highlighting roads that have become accident blackspots. Government officials hope this approach will increase transparency and accountability.

Road safety minister Stephen Hammond suggested the comparison tool will help councils learn from each other.

"If a council is performing particularly well then I want to see them sharing best practice with others so that they can improve and people across the country can benefit," he remarked.

The site also contains a handy chart that highlights the number of fatal, severe and minor road casualties across the UK as a whole between 2005 and 2011. Looking at the data, accident rates are coming down steadily each year, which is encouraging.