West Sussex road named as Britain’s most dangerous
The 12-mile stretch has seen a number of fatal and serious crashes.
A road in West Sussex has been named as one of the UK's most persistently dangerous, according official figures.
In its latest publication, 'Looking Back – Moving Forward', the Road Safety Foundation named the A285 between the A27 near Chichester and the A272 in Petworth as one of Britain’s most dangerous roads.
The report from the Road Safety Foundation and Ageas Insurance showed that this 12 mile stretch has seen 29 serious and fatal crashes between 2013-2015 and 2016-2018; nearly two-thirds of these crashes between 2016 and 2018 involved motorcyclists.
The value to society of preventing all reported injury crashes on this stretch between 2013 and 2018, including the cost to the NHS, long-term care, Fire, Police, Ambulance, and the courts, would have been around £24m.
Supported by Ageas since 2012, this annual report examines the performance of Britain’s motorways and ‘A’ road network, identifying the roads where lives could be saved with physical improvements. This year the analysis has identified that:
60% of all deaths are concentrated on around 13% of Britain’s roads
There were significant reductions in the numbers of fatal and serious crashes on 22 routes between 2013-2015 and 2016-2018; the total number of fatal and serious crashes on these 400km of road fell by two-thirds from 251 to 86, with an estimated Net Present Value of £351m over 20 years
765km of 38 persistently higher risk rural routes have been the location of more than 1,400 fatal and serious crashes between 2013 and 2018. The value to society of preventing these would have been almost £700 million
The data from the report has been used to update the interactive ‘Dangerous Roads Map’. This reveals Britain’s riskiest roads to drivers and other road users and highlights where shovel-ready investment could really make a difference.
Commenting on the findings of the report Ageas Insurance CEO Ant Middle said;
“The high fatal and serious crash risk on the A285 and the impact of these crashes shows just how important investment is.
“The British public has made remarkable changes to their lives this year to make sure the NHS resources were not overwhelmed by demand during the pandemic. This year’s EuroRAP Crash Risk Mapping report shows that road crashes caused by dangerous roads are making a significant call on NHS resources, not to mention the cost to our economy and the catastrophic effect on the lives of those involved and their families and friends.
“On Britain’s motorways and ‘A’ roads alone, there are more than 10,000 crashes which result in people being seriously or fatally injured every year. In their memory we cannot stand idly by and say nothing. In this report the Road Safety Foundation has identified projects that with investment can reduce the demand on our NHS, boost employment prospects for infrastructure workers and limit deaths because of dangerous roads.”
Suzy Charman Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation said:
“This 20th annual report shows that in 2018 less than 1% of roads were significantly improved between 2013-2015 and 2016-2018. The A285 has one 19km stretch of road that continues to be the location of a number of serious and fatal crashes and has been rated by our research as one of Britain’s most persistently higher risk routes.
“This report identifies an investment package of £1.2 billion that would see over 5,000km of roads treated, preventing an estimated 8,000 fatal and serious injuries over 20 years, with great returns – every £1 invested should benefit society by an average of around £3.60. We’ve already demonstrated that infrastructure safety measures can be developed and implemented very quickly, providing jobs and saving lives. At a time when we need to boost our economic recovery and protect the NHS what better way of saving our society an estimated £4.4 billion over the next 20 years. Let’s move forward and save lives by improving these roads.”