Change to 'two per cent of roads in England' could prevent 17,000 deaths

A multi-year £2.5bn road safety investment could prevent 17,000 deaths, a report has found. The Road Safety Foundation's annual crash risk mapping report revealed the investment would deliver nearly £9billion in societal benefits through reduced casualties on UK roads.

The comprehensive analysis identifies over 9,400 kilometres of high-return roads across 584 routes where targeted safety improvements could make the most impact. Dr Suzy Charman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation, explained that the opportunities for reducing death and serious injury "are clear".

The report analyses the performance of road networks in England, Scotland and Wales. This methodology has identified 9,453kms of high-return roads, across 584 routes, on which a £2.5bn investment could prevent 17,101 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years and deliver a benefit to society of £8.7bn.

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"The societal loss attributable to road crashes in 2023 was £42billion," Charman noted in the report, highlighting the scale of the challenge. She added: "We simply cannot accept the level of death and serious injury we have on our roads, particularly when we know what many of the solutions are and that they offer good value for money."

"There is little doubt that the numbers stack up for investment in infrastructure safety measures," Charman added pointing to the visible impact of completed schemes in crash data. Routes are classified into five bands: black (high risk), red (medium-high risk), orange (medium risk), yellow (low-medium risk), and green (low risk).

This year, 2% of England’s roads are classified as high-risk – a figure rising to 3% in Scotland and 5% in Wales. Dr Charman concludes: “There is little doubt that the numbers stack up for investment in infrastructure safety measures.

“For example, the initial estimated results from the Safer Roads Fund – and the early impact of completed schemes which is already visible in the crash data – demonstrate that investment in road safety infrastructure can reap positive returns on investment.

“The investment portfolio opportunities that we identify in this report have high indicative benefit-cost ratios, which is why we are calling for ambitious investment in strategic, major and local roads."