The Government faces a significant challenge if the vision of "making Britain's roads the safest in the world" is to be realised, according to a new report today from the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists).

The report - IAM motoring facts - shows Britain currently holds sixth place.

Director of policy and research, Neil Greig, said: "The Government has placed a strong emphasis on road safety, by proposing challenging 2020 casualty reduction targets and a fair deal for drivers.IAM motoring facts highlights the vastly differing road casualty rates across the world, showing Britain in sixth place.

"Compared with the top five safest countries, we have a much denser road network, used by a disproportionately high number of cars. As the number of road casualties gets smaller, it will become increasingly difficult to save a life.

"The challenge for the Government is to provide a safe and modern road network and for motorists to take more responsibility for their safety."

With an accessible database of thousands of statistics, IAM motoring facts is a comprehensive 'one-stop' reference for anyone - from transport professionals to students - with an interest in motoring. Information includes: vehicle numbers; environmental impacts; taxation levels; driving licences; official forecasts and global comparisons.

Other interesting facts include:

Britain's roads - the length of Britain's roads has grown by around 80,000 kilometres over the last 50 years, but more than 95 per cent of it comprises minor roads, such as residential streets, serving new housing;

Injuries on Britain's roads - the risk of being killed in a crash has fallen dramatically since the 1980s, but not in all cases, the crash risk for drivers in their teens and twenties has not changed. Excluding the years of the blackout, the worst year for deaths on Britain's roads was 1966;

Vehicles on Britain's roads - new car registrations are a barometer for economic growth and the first to suffer in recession. Overall, annual new car and van registrations increased by half a million over the last 10 years, but new car registrations fell by 30 per cent in the first quarter of 2009;

The cars people buy - more consumer choice, motoring taxation and the service economy are changing the make-up of Britain's vehicles: since 1991, the proportion of new diesel cars has increased from 10 per cent to over 40 per cent;

The British car industry and manufacturing - while close to 85 per cent of new cars sold in Britain are imported; more than 75 per cent of UK-made cars are exported.

The latest report is an update of last year's IAM motoring facts and now includes access to a huge underlying database via a CD. It is also accessible online at iam.org.uk/motoringfacts. It was compiled from official accident reports and other authoritative sources.

The table below shows a comparison of fatality rates, car use and lengths of roads for the ten countries with the lowest fatality rate (full list of countries is available in the report):

*information is unavailable