Insurance news

Don't hit a blind spot with your insurance

25 June, 2007

According to the latest survey, Britain’s most dangerous road is the A682 running between Lancashire and the North Yorkshire Dales. A particular 15-mile stretch of the road between junction 13 and Long Preston has clocked up almost 100 deaths or serious injuries during the last ten years, more than anywhere else in the UK.

The second worst road is the A54 Congleton to Buxton in Derbyshire and the third a stretch of the A683 spanning from junction 34 of the M6 to Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria.

Compare insurance deals from Endsleigh

The survey was conducted by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP). The report’s head researcher, Dr Joanne Hill, said: “The good news from the survey is that many of Britain’s authorities have brought in countermeasures to tackle the higher risk routed in their areas. Most are quick, simple and cheap, involving little more than adopting modern signing, hazard markings and junction layouts.”

However Hill did add that in the case of the worst road, the A682, failed on every collision type – including 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,” she continued. “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."

See if you could save with Zurich

EuroRAP chairman John Dawson added: "The UK is now falling behind those countries it used to lead only a few years ago because its pace in applying the results of research into safe road design lags behind the best. 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."

This is little comfort when considering last week saw a report about the amount of unlicensed drivers on the road after they pay off serial fraudsters to sit their test in their place.