A spate of deaths and serious injuries on Norfolk's roads has prompted council leaders to set aside more than �300,000 to try to stem a rise in casualties.

While the number of people being killed or seriously injured in crashes in the county has gone down in recent years, there was an increase between January and May this year.

And officers at Norfolk County Council are particularly concerned that it is pedestrians and cyclists who are increasingly the casualties.

Statistics show that the rolling 12 month total of people killed or seriously injured in Norfolk rose steadily from 329 in June last year to 377 in April this year before falling back to 360 in June this year.

There has also been a marked increase in the number of children injured. The rolling 12 month total rose steadily from 19 in June 2011 to 37 in April 2012 before falling back to 33 in May and June of this year.

In a report which will go before councillors next Monday, council officers say that a rise in injuries to 'vulnerable road users' 'appears to be consistent with people reducing their car use and moving towards other means of transport such as bicycles or walking'.

The report also states: 'Work is under way using information available from partners, business intelligence and best practice research to explore potential causes for the rise in vulnerable road user injuries.'

To address the increase, Norfolk's Joint Casualty Reduction Group and the Road Casualty Reduction Partnership – a partnership group which includes the county council, police, fire service and ambulance service – are pumping an extra �315,000 from the council's road safety reserves.

That cash will be used to do more work to improve the skills of young drivers and motorcyclists, as well as work to help keep older drivers safe.

Council officers say more work will be done with schools and colleges to get the message across.

Among those who have died on the county's roads this year was father-of-one Sam Crisp, 21, who suffered head injuries when his bike was in a crash with a car in Sprowston Road, Norwich, near the Brickmakers pub, on Thursday, May 3.

The scene of the crash, just yards from Mr Crisp's home in Templemere, became a memorial to the young man who worked at the Menzies warehouse.

And a cyclist in his 40s died in a crash on the B1150 North Walsham Road near the junction with Beeston Lane on Tuesday, June 5. That crash involved a black Vauxhall Vectra and a black Saab.

dan.grimmer@archant.co.uk