Scotland's main roads 'have higher crash risk than those down south'

Published on Thursday 25 June 2009 00:13

DRIVERS are at higher risk of crashing on Scotland's main roads than those in England and Wales, according to a government-based survey.

The Road Safety Foundation said 17 per cent of A roads in Scotland were in the two highest-risk categories, compared with 12 per cent south of the Border.

The A6088 between Hawick and Carter Bar at the Border was named as Scotland's highest risk road. There were four collisions involving deaths and serious injuries on the 13-mile road between 2005 and 2007.

Scotland's other riskiest roads included the A86 linking Spean Bridge and Kingussie, the A97 Huntly-Banff, the A820 Doune-Dunblane, the A819 Lochawe- Inveraray and the A718 Stranraer-Kirkholm. Only the A86 is a trunk road.

Britain's highest risk road was the six-mile A4069 between Llangadog and Llandovery in Wales, which had five incidents.

The ratings are based on the number of such crashes per billion vehicle kilometres travelled.

The A9, which has been described by the SNP as Scotland's most dangerous road, was rated as "low to medium risk" because of the relatively low number of collisions for the volume of traffic it carries.

Scotland's most improved was a 63-mile stretch of the A92 from near Ladybank in Fife to Stonehaven. The report said the number of fatal and serious collisions had more than halved from 66 in 2002-4 to 30 in 2005-7.

Safety improvements on the road included anti-skid surfacing, pedestrian crossings, and better drainage, signs, road markings and traffic lights.

The latest survey, which includes all A roads for the first time, received funding from the Department for Transport to help encourage improvements.

The figures will be used by councils in reviewing speed limits, which could lead to the standard 60mph limit on rural single-carriageway roads being cut.

Dr Jo Hill, the federation's director, said the greater proportion of high risk roads in Scotland was because of the large number of bendy, hilly, single-carriageways.

She said such roads attracted a lot of tourist traffic, which may have increased the risk rating.

Dr Hill went on: "Over half Britain's road deaths are concentrated on the 10 per cent of the network we have mapped.

"Despite significant advances in knowledge, engineering practice and road-safety countermeasures, 60 per cent of the A-road sections do not achieve even the top two safest risk bands that we would expect as the minimum safety level for these strategic roads; and a quarter of the motorway sections fall outside the safest risk band.

"In the past, authorities have successfully focused on removing isolated blackspots. Now they must switch their approach and target safety measures along the risky A-routes.

"We need safe villages, safe junctions, safe roadsides and safe overtaking."

Philip Gomm, of the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, said: "This week, Scottish ministers announced their ambitious aim of reducing road deaths by 40 per cent over the next decade. This map will leave them in no doubt about where best to target their efforts."

Kathleen Braidwood, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "This research confirms accidents are more likely to occur on rural roads and be severe accidents, due to the nature of these roads.

"This is why we are so pleased Scotland's Road Safety Framework to 2020 (published by ministers last week] has a whole section devoted to tackling rural road safety. This is going to be one of the most important and difficult road safety challenges of the next ten years."

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, whose members are responsible for all non-trunk roads, said they did their utmost to tackle the condition of roads in a strategic way. A spokesman said:

"We acknowledge there is a real problem and the difficulty of catching up. The bottom line is this is a long-term problem that requires a long-term solution. It will not and cannot be resolved overnight."

BRITAIN'S MOST DANGEROUS ROADS

Scotland: A6088 Hawick-A68 (13 miles), four collisions

Wales: A4069 Llangadog-Llandovery (six miles), five fatal and serious collisions 2005-7

North-west England: A537 Macclesfield-Buxton (7.5 miles), 27 collisions

East Midlands: A5012 A515-A6 (nine miles), 14 collisions

South-west England: A3072 Crediton-A396 (eight miles), seven collisions

East England: A126 A13-Tilbury (eight miles), 32 collisions.

South-east England: A255 Margate-Ramsgate (five miles), 18 collisions

Yorkshire & Humber: A640 Denshaw-M62 (ten miles), six collisions

West Midlands: A529 Market Drayton-A41 (six miles), six collisions

North-east: A1290 A1(M)-A19, (four miles), seven collisions