Fresh tragedies on Suffolk’s roads have prompted police chiefs to bring forward new initiatives to improve safety.

One man died and four others were taken to hospital following two serious crashes over the weekend – while a toddler involved in a crash in Martlesham on Thursday lost her fight for life.

Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said he had met with the new head of the county’s traffic policing, Kris Barnard, on Friday.

The pair shared their concerns about the level of deaths and serious injuries taking place during the meeting – there have been eight deaths on the county’s roads so far this year and 35 in 2015, the highest figure in six years.

Mr Passmore said any moves to improve road safety that the force had planned for later this year would be brought forward as quickly as possible.

“The latest collisions and fatalities are once again extremely sad and traumatic news for all of us in Suffolk and my thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those killed and injured,” he added.

“I would just like to take a moment to remind all road users to driver very carefully, mend vehicles properly and allow for extra time when driving, in case something unexpected happened on the road.”

A pedestrian, a man in his 80s, was hit by a Renault Scenic on the A137 in Brantham on Saturday night.

Emergency services were called at around 11.20pm to reports of the collision within the 30mph zone.

The pedestrian was taken to Colchester General Hospital with serious injuries, but died early yesterday.

In a separate incident, a 20-month-old girl who was critically injured on the A12 at Martlesham on Thursday afternoon died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, on Friday, Suffolk Constabulary said.

The toddler, who has not been named, was initially taken to Ipswich Hospital after the two-vehicle collision on the southbound carriageway, between the Tesco and BT roundabouts, but was later transferred to the Cambridge hospital, which specialises in paediatrics.

Mr Passmore said the result of the collision was an “absolutely appalling tragedy”.

He added: “For a little girl at the start of her life to be killed, her parents must be beside themselves with grief and once again my thoughts and prayers are with them, it must be awful.”

The East Anglian Air Ambulance, paramedics and Suffolk Accident Rescue Service were called to a third incident in Foxhall Road, Ipswich, on Saturday night.

Two cars, a Citroen C4 carrying a woman in her 40s and a teenage girl and a Ford Mondeo with two men in their late teens, were involved in the crash at 10.48pm.

One car was on its roof when rescue teams arrived at the scene close to the recycling centre.

Three Ipswich fire crews were sent to the scene and firefighters released one person trapped in a car.

Four patients were treated by the ambulance service, which sent three ambulances, an officer, volunteer critical care paramedic from Suffolk Accident Rescue Service and a rapid response vehicle, as well as the air ambulance.

The female in her 40s and one of the men were taken to Ipswich Hospital with chest injuries, with the teenager in a serious condition.

The teenage girl was taken to the hospital with an arm injury, while the air ambulance medics treated the fourth male casualty.

He was also taken to Ipswich Hospital in a land ambulance, accompanied by the heli-medics, with leg and head injuries, but was not in a life-threatening condition.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said the incident was under control by 11.25pm.

However, the road remained closed until 3.50am for recovery and police investigation work.