Ambitious £2.5 billion multi-year investment in road safety could prevent 17,000 deaths

Investing £2.5 billion in high-return road safety programs could prevent more than 17,000 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years, saving almost £9 billion in societal losses, according to a new report.

The annual accident risk mapping report, entitled this year “Driving change: investing in safer roads‘, was published by the Road Safety Foundation.

The report analyzes the performance of road networks in England, Scotland and Wales, identifying investment opportunities based on benefit-cost ratio (BCR) that should be achievable on each route.

The BCR is based on typical levels of casualty savings on treated routes, compared to accidents occurring over the past six years.

These savings are monetized and compared to the typical costs per kilometer that must be spent to reduce the number of casualties that much, resulting in an estimate of the BCR for each route.

This methodology identified 9,453km of high-performance roads, across 584 routes, where an investment of £2.5 billion could prevent 17,101 deaths and serious injuries over the next 20 years and deliver a benefit to society. £8.7 billion company.

Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation, said: “The opportunities to reduce deaths and serious injuries are clear, and the impact of such an investment would not only mean savings in terms of casualties, but also tangible relief for an overburdened NHS and social care system. .”

Mapping accident risk since 2002

The report also contains a map showing the statistical risk of fatal or serious injury occurring on the UK motorway and ‘A’ road network from 2020 to 2022.

Crash risk maps for major UK roads have been published by the Road Safety Foundation since 2002.

Risk is calculated by comparing the frequency of road crashes resulting in fatal or serious injuries on each stretch of road and the volume of traffic carried by each road.

For mapping purposes, 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 classed as high risk – a figure that rises to 3% in Scotland and 5% in Wales.

The key findings also show that the accident density (i.e. the adjusted number of fatal and serious accidents per 100 km of road length) on the main road network in England is more than three times higher than that of the average road in Scotland and Wales, and more than double. that of strategic routes across Britain.

Dr Charman adds: “The high accident density and high risk on the major road network makes it a priority for investment in road safety, yet we do not always measure or track safety performance road on this network.

“Additionally, there is no dedicated funding stream for security here. We estimate that a £1.2 billion investment in MRN would prevent 7,875 deaths and serious injuries over 20 years, with a net present value of £4 billion.

Use data wisely

The annual Crash Risk Mapping dataset has been used by several strategic and local authorities to understand the safety performance of their roads. This has been used by some to prioritize paths forward for road safety investment.

In the case of England’s strategic road network, National Highways has prioritized routes with high accident density and low star ratings. Using the DfT’s Safer Roads Fund, routes were selected based on potential return on investment.

So far, the £185 million investment in the Safer Roads Fund has delivered programs that are expected to prevent 2,600 fatal and serious injuries over a 20-year period, with a profit societal impact of £1.2 billion.

Dr Charman concludes: “There is no doubt that the numbers are piling up when it comes to investment in infrastructure security measures.

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

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

“We also call for systematic measurement and management of road risk, particularly on the Major Road Network (MRN) where the density of accidents is so high. »