Drivers will be able to find out how dangerous each major road is under a star-rating system introduced today. It is the first comprehensive assessment of the safety engineering of individual roads and their ability to protect motorists and their passengers in the event of a collision.
The IAM Motoring Trust, which co-funded the assessments with the Highways Agency, hopes to offer the ratings to sat-nav companies and road atlas publishers, which would be expected to include them on their maps. The trust also wants the ratings to be added to signposts.
However, the Highways Agency has authorised the publication of only a summary of the data. It is believed to be cautious about giving the detailed score for each road, particularly the worst ones, because it fears that it would come under pressure to make improvements that it could not afford.
The roads were ranked according to three factors: the hazards such as trees and walls that drivers could hit after swerving off a carriageway; the risk of head-on collisions; and the safety of junctions. The best roads scored four stars and were those on which drivers were unlikely to be killed or seriously injured even if they lost control or were in a collision. One-star roads were those that offered drivers little protection and where a minor driving error could be fatal.
Roads with trees and walls close to the edges scored badly. But roads with hedges scored well because these would absorb the energy of an impact.
A team of assessors drove along the roads, making observations and filming each stretch for further assessment. The study found that more than 40 per cent of A roads were inadequate and scored one or two stars.
Only 11 per cent of A roads and only half the length of motorways made the four-star grade. The ratings of dual-carriageways, presumed to be the safest A roads, were poorer than expected. Most varied between 3 and 4 stars, and only two sections, totalling 30km (19 miles), made four stars over their entire length: the A66 Middles-brough ringroad north and the A720 Edinburgh city bypass.
No single-carriageway A roads achieved four stars because they lacked a central barrier and could not prevent head-on collisions.
The trust urged the Government and local authorities to copy Sweden and the Netherlands, which have introduced a central barrier on some single-carriageway roads. The barrier prevents overtaking.
The study covered 4,350 of motorways and A roads – about a third of the total.
Neil Greig, the director of the trust, said: “The star rating gives responsible drivers a valuable safety tool. Good driving and driver behaviour are key to avoiding accidents. But while errors cannot be eliminated, and may be the initial cause of a collision, poor design of the road itself is often the killer. When driving on inferior one and two-star roads, motorists must adapt their driving to compensate for the inadequate features of the road. Drivers who understand that the risk of death or serious injury changes with the star rating of different road sections will be better informed and ultimately safer.
“Cutting road deaths requires combined action to improve driver behaviour, to produce safer cars, improve vehicle crash performance and to provide safety features on the roads.â€
Mr Greig said that the exact locations of the one-star stretches were not in the report because the Highways Agency did not want it to become a “top ten of the most dangerous roadsâ€.
A spokeswoman for the agency said that it would assess all of its roads by April 2009. She added that it would allow all of the information to be published “when it’s completeâ€.
Roads with ‘1 star’ dangerous sections
1 A340 southwest of Reading
2 A4 west of Reading
3 A59 west of York
4 A61 near Ripon
5 A165 near Filey Brigg
6 A171 south of Middlesbrough
7 A38 Sutton in Ashfield
8 A442 south of Telford
9 A830 near Fort William
10 A1 south of Belfast
11 A6 northwest from Belfast
Source: The Times online website, Ben Webster, Transport Reporter 03/12/07
Any comments from BADDIA (Bedford and District Driving Instructors Association) in Bedford? My own personal comment would be that roads are never dangerous only some of the drivers on them. Would any driving instructors in Bedford avoid any of these ‘dangerous’ roads on their driving lessons with pupils?
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