Skip to main content

Interactive map reveals the UK’s riskiest roads

The A254 between the junction with A28 in Margate and the junction with the A255 near Ramsgate is the UK’s riskiest road, according to an interactive Dangerous Road Map. There were 26 fatal and serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres on this road, say motor insurer Ageas and the Road Safety Foundation (RSF). Both organisations are now calling on an immediate investment from the UK government of £75 million, and the same amount annually for five years thereafter to improve the country’s riskiest
November 20, 2018 Read time: 3 mins

The A254 between the junction with A28 in Margate and the junction with the A255 near Ramsgate is the UK’s riskiest road, according to an interactive Dangerous Road Map.

There were 26 fatal and serious crashes per billion vehicle kilometres on this road, say motor insurer Ageas and the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).

Both organisations are now calling on an immediate investment from the UK government of £75 million, and the same amount annually for five years thereafter to improve the country’s riskiest roads.

It is estimated that this investment could prevent as many as 5,600 deaths or serious injuries over the next two decades with a prevention value of around £2 billion.

RSF says 654 lives out of 1,793 would not have been lost in 2017 if the UK was on target to halve road deaths by 2020. Also, 2,549 road death could have been prevented between 2010 and 2017 if the country was on track.  

A %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external report false https://www.ageas.co.uk/globalassets/assets/newsroom/eurorapgb2018_gettingbackontrack.pdf false false%> by Ageas says the Dangerous Road Map has identified 40 ‘persistently higher risk’ roads which must be addressed by the UK’s Safer Roads Fund. These areas have an average of at least one fatal or serious crash mile in a three-year survey period between 2014-16.  

Ageas and RSF believe a single investment of £75m on these roads would prevent an estimated 1,110 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years.

Getting Back on Track also shows in 2017.

•    The societal cost of road traffic crashes was £35bn.
•    An average of 73 people were killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads every day.
•    Motorcycle fatalities increased by 9% from 319 in 2016 to 349.
•    Six out of ten fatal casualties occurred on rural roads.
•    Nearly 6% of fatal casualties occurred on motorways.

The Safer Roads Fund was part of an investment package announced in 2016 by the Department of Transport to upgrade 50 of the UK’s most dangerous local A-road sections.

Suzy Charman, executive director of the RSF, says progress to reduce the rate of death and serious injury on UK roads has flatlined since 2010.

“The Safer Roads Fund has allowed the road safety community to demonstrate that investing in road safety engineering treatments really does have life-saving potential, and also stacks up as an investment when compared to other transport initiatives,” she adds.

Charman believes the continuation of the fund would be a critical way of achieving zero road deaths by 2050.

Andy Watson, CEO of Ageas, believes a reduction in crashes will benefit the economy.  

“Fewer crashes mean fewer insurance claims – and saving an annual of £23.2m that we can pass onto our policy holders,” Watson adds.

Other findings show the risk is lowest in the West Midlands and the most improved road is the A161 in Yorkshire with fatal and serious crashes decreasing from 13 (in 2011-13) to one (in 2014-16).

UTC

Related Content

  • April 17, 2012
    New US fuel efficiency standards would cost over US$65 billion in lost revenue
    Friday’s proposal by the Obama Administration to increase fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks to an average 54.5 miles per gallon (4.32 litres/100 km) between 2017 and 2025 would result in the loss of more than $65 billion in federal funding for state and local highway, bridge and transit improvements, an analysis by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) shows.
  • February 5, 2016
    Drink-drive casualty figures ‘unacceptable’ says IAM
    The numbers of people killed and seriously injured on British roads as a result of drink driving have remained largely static for the last five years, according to the latest government figures. The figures show that between 210 and 270 people were killed in accidents in Britain where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit, with a central estimate of 240 deaths; unchanged since 2010. The number of seriously injured casualties in drink-drive accidents fell by per cent from 1,100 in 2013 to
  • August 17, 2017
    US motor vehicle deaths drop slightly in first half of 2017, but remain higher than two years ago
    Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council indicate motor vehicle deaths in the first six months of 2017 are one per cent lower than they were during the same six-month period in 2016. However, it says the country is fresh off the steepest estimated two-year increase in motor vehicle deaths since 1964 and it is too early to conclude whether the upward trend is over. The estimated deaths during the first six months of 2017 still are eight per cent higher than the 2015 six-month estimates, and the
  • June 18, 2019
    Painted lanes ‘a waste of money’, say UK cycling champions
    The UK government has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds painting white lines on busy roads to use as cycle lanes, says former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman. Boardman, cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester, has reportedly joined fellow commissioners Dame Sarah Storey (Sheffield City region) and Will Norman (London) in writing to transport secretary Chris Grayling calling for new measures to be adopted. The Guardian says the letter argues that painted cycle lanes do not make cyc