Saving lives, saving money : the costs and benefits of achieving safe roads.

6,000 lives could be saved on Britain’s roads over the next 10 years if only a fraction of the money currently spent on road maintenance was used more effectively, according to a report from the RAC Foundation. Britain loses up to £30b (2.3% GDP) annually in the cost of road crashes, most of which falls on busy, targetable motorways and main roads, claims the report, ‘Saving Lives, Saving Money: the costs and benefits of achieving safe roads’. The report shows how, within existing budgets, 1-star and 2-star roads can be eliminated in the next decade, with benefits worth £25-£35 billion. Achieving the savings will require that road authority leaders are offered guidance to focus on the full costs and benefits of saving the most lives for the money available. The report reveals the losses on roads for which different authorities are responsible. It finds the cost of fatal and serious crashes on the Highways Agency’s network amounts to £1.2bn annually. The cost of serious crashes on English local authority ‘A’ roads is £2bn. (Author/publisher)