Road safety measures 'may encourage motorists to take more risks'

Published on Tuesday 12 February 2008 20:55

NEW road layouts designed to cut accidents may actually be making highways less safe, a report claimed yesterday.

Barriers and divisions on the road could make drivers feel more confident and therefore speed up, it said.

The study, by surveyors' group CSS, said the human response to more in-car and on-road safety "may be to increase risky behaviour". It said: "We are social animals and there is some evidence the removal of control and the creation of uncertainty can help slow traffic and elicit more considerate behaviour."

The report, entitled Travel Is Good, was compiled by CSS's transport futures group and looks ahead to problems likely to be encountered in transport over the next 40 years – and to ways of dealing with them.

It said transport challenges had to be tackled without leaving people feeling guilty about enjoying travel.

It also warned that Britain faced a gridlocked and polluted existence by 2030 unless there were imaginative solutions, cohesive leadership and sustained investment.

In a preface to the report, Richard Wills, the CSS president, said: "The daily impact of traffic in our cities, towns and villages is of concern to many, but we are deeply attached to the freedom and opportunities offered by our cars.

"These challenges require ambitious responses.

"All too often, however, a gloomy picture of restraint and diminishing choice has been painted as the only solution, which turns ordinary people away from serious consideration of the issues that face us."