Like the public, Parliamentarians tend to talk about road safety almost exclusively in terms of the way we behave on the roads as drivers, pedestrians or cyclists. After all, over 90% of road casualties start with an error. But to err is human. In rail and air safety it is assumed that even the best trained pilot or driver will make mistakes. The systems that surround the human being are designed to make errors unlikely and to ensure that the consequences of mistakes are not fatal. On the roads, simple predictable everyday human errors routinely result in a death sentence. In the last decade, there have been more than 375,000 fatal and serious crashes. Thousands of stretches of road see the same human errors repeated year after year resulting in crashes that kill and maim. Quite apart from the reservoir of suffering, the cost of road crashes wastes 1.5% of our entire GDP. This amount is, for example, worth more than we spend on primary schools or twice what we spend on GPs. This policy paper describes how Britain can become the undisputed world leader in road safety. As in all leading countries, we have to act on ALL the components of a safe road system together – behaviour, vehicles, and roads. The government has been tightening traffic law, not least in the enforcement of speed limits. New vehicles have soared in their safety standards from a typical 2-star to 4-star and even 5-star car crash EuroNCAP safety ratings following the introduction of the programme in the 1990s. As the government prepares its road safety strategy beyond 2010, this report proposes how we can now turn attention to the safety features built into our roads. The paper shows how we can quickly prevent around one-third of total deaths and serious injuries by detailed attention to safe road design alone. Britain can deliver this through a formal systematic ‘Safe Road Infrastructure Programme’ which targets the safety deficiencies on our urban roads and particularly on a new programme for the busy ‘A’ roads outside towns, where so many of our road deaths are concentrated. This programme must be delivered by local authorities but there is an onus on central government to put the enabling framework in place. A ‘Safe Road Infrastructure Programme’ could save 10,000 deaths and serious injuries a year. The total savings in crash costs from the programme would be worth 0.5% of GDP. The programme should win wide support, not just because it saves lives and disabling injuries, but because it is quick, certain, and affordable with an investment return that few, if any other programmes, can match. (Author/publisher)
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