White paint saves lives but avoid the A682

A short section of road in Lancashire tops the list of Britain’s most dangerous roads, and has killed or seriously injured nearly 100 people in the last decade, according to the latest assessment report by the Road Safety Foundation for EuroRAP.

Of course, it’s not the roads that are dangerous, it’s the drivers. Roads are slabs of concrete or strips of tarmac, they don’t tend to maim or kill without a third party being involved. And this is normally a speeding motorist.

According to Dr Joanne Hill who heads the Road Safety Foundation’s research, a further 16 road sections present a persistent “medium to high risk” to road users, resulting in 10 times the number of deaths and serious injuries of the country’s best roads.

“The good news from the survey is that many of Britain’s authorities have brought in countermeasures to tackle the higher risk routes in their areas,” said Dr Hill.

“Most are quick, simple and cheap, involving little more than adopting modern signing, hazard markings and junction layouts.

“Most roads in need of treatment score poorly for one of five common collision types,” says Dr Hill. “The A682 fails on every collision type: junction and access road crashes; collisions with rigid roadside objects; overtaking crashes; pedestrian and cyclist collisions; and motorcycle crashes.

“The death-toll on this stretch of road is the equivalent of five major rail crashes within 10 years. The Foundation’s consultation with local authorities over the past four years has consistently shown that lack of funding is the principal reason why they do not tackle accident numbers on their roads on the scale that could make a major difference. Other local authorities have undoubtedly saved lives – often by the simple application of white paint.”

EuroRAP chairman, John Dawson said: “Cutting road deaths requires combined action to improve driver behaviour, to improve vehicle crash performance, and to provide safety features on the roads themselves. We need five star drivers in five star cars on five star roads.”

Here are the roads where the most cyclists have been killed or injured:

A726 M77 J3 TO PAISLEY
7km mixed single/dual carriageway
Fatal/serious collisions 2000-2002: 18
Fatal/serious collisions 2003-2005: 19
Most common collision type: Pedestrians/cyclists (42%)

A1079 MARKET WEIGHTON TO KINGSTON-UPON-HULL
32km single lane
Fatal/serious collisions 2000-2002: 63
Fatal/serious collisions 2003-2005: 66
Most common collision type: Pedestrians/cyclists (43%)

A671 BURNLEY TO A59 WHALLEY
10km single lane
Fatal/serious collisions 2000-2002: 27
Fatal/serious collisions 2003-2005: 21
Most common collision type: Pedestrians/cyclists (43%)

A62 DIGGLE TO HUDDERSFIELD
18km single lane
Fatal/serious collisions 2000-2002: 16
Fatal/serious collisions 2003-2005: 26
Most common collision type: Pedestrians/cyclists (31%)