Huge number of roads classed as ‘unsafe’
ALMOST a third of Britain’s A-roads (30%) and nearly a quarter of the country’s motorways (24%) have been described as ‘unsafe’ by the Road Safety Foundation, the UK arm of EuroRAP, the European Roads Assessment Programme...
BEFORE AND AFTER: how the A453 at Tamworth was changed to become the most improved road in Britain
Its study found that an eightmile section of the A537 between Macclesfield and Buxton remains Britain’s most dangerous road. The single-carriageway road has been the scene of 43 fatal or serious collisions since 2001, nearly three-quarters of them involving motorcyclists.
According to Dr Joanne Hill, who heads the Foundation which carried out the research, despite Cheshire County Council’s best efforts to improve the safety of the road by introducing motorcycle-friendly crash barriers, motorcyclists treating the route as a ‘race track’ have secured its unenviable position in the league of dangerous roads. When collisions involving motorcyclists are removed from the analysis, the stretch moves from the highest risk road in the country to one of the safest.
Overall, if motorcyclist collisions were removed from the league table, the A61 between Barnsley and Wakefield is revealed as the most dangerous road in Britain.
This six-mile single carriageway running through countryside has poor forward visibility, is undulating and bendy with many of the crashes happening at bends and junctions, according to Dr Hill.
Britain’s most improved road in this year’s analysis by the Foundation is the A453 from the A38 to Tamworth in Staffordshire. This rural seven-mile stretch of single carriageway has seen an 88% drop in the number of fatal or serious collisions in the last six years, taking it from a medium risk road to one of the safest. According to the Foundation, this has been achieved by introducing traffic lights, speed limit reductions and village pedestrian facilities such as central road islands.
The nation’s second most improved road is a section of the M6 between junctions 16 and 17, which has seen a 75% decline in the number of fatalities and serious injuries due to an improved road surface, junction improvements and better signage.
Dr Hill said: “Poor road design and inadequate safety measures on the majority of the roads in the ‘most dangerous’ list have contributed to a high proportion of the fatal or serious collisions each year.
“The majority of road authorities identified the need for funding for road safety improvements and maintenance of existing roads as the one thing which would make the biggest difference to reducing fatal or serious collisions on sections within their area.”
Although there has been an overall drop of 18% in risk across the motorway and main road network in the past three years, the rating of motorways and the primary route network still caused major concern, she said.
“Despite significant advances in knowledge, engineering practice and road-safety countermeasures, 30% of the primary A-road sections do not achieve even the top two safest risk bands that we would expect as the minimum safety level for these strategic roads. Also, 24% of motorway sections fall outside the safest risk band,” said Dr Hill.
The map highlighting ‘risk’ on Britain’s motorways and primary ‘A’ roads is published in the new Collins Road Atlas and available at www.eurorap.org. In the future satellite navigation systems could also carry warning information to drivers.