I find it disturbing that the police seem glib about the figures

Not sure it's glib, as they say "our research shows that collisions
are down in the 18 and under age group" which would suggest the massive
increase is due to something other than more people getting hurt.

On the other hand the article makes no mention of rises in other age groups
attending the hospital, so not sure what's going on.

glib Couldn't be manufactured by some journo due to a (gasp) slow news
day in norfolk?/glib :-)