Norfolk's roads are finally getting safer, according to a new report delivered at County Hall.

Members of the Road Casualty Reduction Partnership Board met yesterday to review last year's road safety figures and approve a plan for 2016/2017.

Dave Stephens, team manager for network management (analysis and safety). said he was delighted with the figures, which he said was the first positive result for the group in the past few years. He added: 'For the last three years this has tended to be an update showing that we haven't been making the progress that we wanted to.

'But now we've had five successive months of reductions. This is the first time since I've been presenting this report that I've been able to report positively and that things might be turning in a positive direction.'

The results follow last year's record low of fatalities on Norfolk's road – just 33 – compared with 39 in the previous year.

Norfolk also had its lowest number of motorcyclist fatalities, just three in 2015.

Mr Stephens said: 'That's very positive and we seem to have started off 2016 in a similar vein.'

The figures showed that in year to the end of January, there were 371 people reported killed or seriously injured on the roads, which was a 20pc drop from a baseline figure of 462 from 2005-2009.

But a board member, councillor Jonathan Childs, said that while the figures were positive, there was still work to be done, particularly in combating the number of drivers caught under the influence of drugs.

He said that in a sweep by Norfolk Constabulary's roads policing unit last month 33pc of drivers who were tested proved positive for drugs.

He added: 'Last month's statistics for drug-drivers shocked me. We have to collate this information and see what age group is being caught and target those with a drug-driving campaign.'

Mr Stephens said road safety campaigns would continue to target key groups including motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists, young drivers and older drivers, who together made up 85pc of all people either killed or seriously injured on the roads.