This publication considers the safety record of Britain's motorways and trunk roads. There were 2600 fewer fatal and serious injury collisions in 2002-4 than in 1999-2001. Motorways are twice as safe as dual carriageways and five times safer than single carriageways. Most casualties are explained by four collision types: head-on collision, major side impact at junctions, collisions with roadside objects such as trees, and collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists. Collision concentrations can increase markedly where a road runs through a village or the outskirts of a town. Just 8% of the motorway and trunk road network is ranked as high or medium risk. Measures to halve the accident risk on high and medium risk roads would prevent 50 deaths and 300 serious injuries a year. This would result in £300 million savings to the economy and society as a whole, and up to £10 million saved in health service budgets. Britain's most improved road is a 12km section of the A452 on the outskirts of Birmingham and Wolverhampton (Sutton Coldfield to Brownhills). On this road, speed limits were reduced and more frequent speed enforcement was also implemented, leading to a 73% reduction in fatal and serious collisions. Lists are given of the other most improved roads, the consistently higher-risk roads, high risk roads with high motorcycle risk, and high risk roads with motorcycle risk removed. Maps illustrating the high risk roads are also presented.
Samenvatting