Road safety improvements on UK roads save 300 lives so far

Two sections of road in the South West are among the top 15 most improved according to a new report.

The Road Safety Foundation have been tracking the safety of roads across the UK and found that nationwide, more than 300 people are alive because of simple improvements put into place.

Fatal and serious crashes have dropped by 63 per cent from 494 incidents to 190.

The Simple Measures Save Lives report found fatal and serious collisions have been cut by 70 per cent on a Swindon road due to resurfacing, ladder markings and speed limit reductions to villages.

The A466/A48 between Chepstow and Gloucester has also been improved with extensive resurfacing, anti-skid and a pedestrian refuge, cutting deaths and injuries from 51 to 23.

From the Road Safety Foundation, Dr Joanne Hill says: “Busy, high-risk roads can be eliminated affordably with high economic returns. Over the last three years, the number of fatal crashes on motorways and A roads has dropped by 21%. Over the past decade average risk on Britain’s motorways and A roads has halved. While motorways and dual carriageways are moving towards the ‘low risk’ benchmark, the risk levels on non-primary single carriageway A roads in particular remain a cause for concern. These roads account for a large proportion of fatal and serious crashes and the majority of these routes are rated as ‘higher risk’.”