Nearly 拢50 million boost for safer roads across England
Road safety improvements will be made to 27 of the most high-risk roads in England, which will help prevent fatal and serious injuries.
- 拢47.5 million government investment to improve safety of 27 of the country鈥檚 most dangerous roads
- from the Isle of Wight to Newcastle, road users across England will benefit from road safety improvements with 50% funding uplift
- investment will prevent over 750 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with 拢420 million benefit to society
Drivers, passengers and cyclists across England will benefit from a 拢47.5 million injection into enhancing the safety of some of the most high-risk roads in England, the Department for Transport confirmed today (6 April 2023).
Through the third round of the Safer Roads Fund, 27 new schemes will be delivered, benefiting road users around the country by driving forward safety improvements such as:
- re-designing junctions
- improving signage and road markings
The programme will reduce the risk of collisions which will in turn reduce congestion, journey times and emissions.
As part of the fund, government is continuing to deliver a wide range of improvements across all roads, while working with local authorities and safety groups.
To date, 拢100 million has been provided through the programme to improve the 50 most dangerous roads in England, the majority of which are rural roads.
Some of the improvements already made include improved signage, safer pedestrian crossings and better designed junctions.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:
Britain鈥檚 roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep drivers and all road users safe.
We鈥檙e injecting 拢47.5 million so that local councils around the country have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while reducing congestion and emissions and supporting local economies.
The allocation of 拢47.5 million to 27 different schemes has been based on data independently surveyed and provided by the Road Safety Foundation. The data analysed is based on a road safety risk, looking at data on those killed and seriously injured alongside traffic levels.
The focused on treating the 50 highest-risk local 鈥楢 road鈥� sections in England with enhanced road safety engineering interventions. The scheme is set to prevent around 1,450 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years.
According to Road Safety Foundation analysis, early estimates suggest that the 拢47.5 million investment should prevent around 760 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years, with a benefit to society of 拢420 million.
Once the whole life costs are factored in for the schemes, the overall benefit cost ratio of the investment is estimated at 7.4, meaning for every 拢1 invested the societal benefit would be 拢7.40.
Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation said:
The commitment and funding announced today is transformational for road safety teams in local authorities across the country.聽It will allow them to proactively reduce risk and make these 27 roads safer and more inviting for all road users.
Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen.聽In the same way we can design roads safely so when crashes occur, people can walk away. This can be done by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatchings to add space between vehicles which provides safer junctions like roundabouts, or adding signalisation and / or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.
This additional investment builds on the government鈥檚 plans to recruit a specialised team of inspectors to build the country鈥檚 first ever Road Safety Investigation Branch. The team will look at how and why incidents happen and build an enhanced understanding of how we can better mitigate collisions.
It also follows the actions government has already taken to improve road safety, including:
- banning any use of handheld mobile phones behind the wheel
- updating the Highway Code to introduce a hierarchy of road users, which places road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy
The 27 schemes receiving funding from the Safer Roads Fund 3 are:
| Road | Local authority | Funding |
|---|---|---|
| A586 | Blackpool Council | 拢1,100,000 |
| A35 | Bournemouth Borough Council | 拢1,890,625 |
| A2010 | Brighton and Hove City Council | 拢600,000 |
| A52 | Derby City | 拢475,000 |
| A104 | Essex County Council | 拢1,360,000 |
| A35 | Hampshire County Council | 拢6,040,000 |
| A5183 | Hertfordshire County Council | 拢1,800,000 |
| A165 | Hull City Council | 拢2,990,625 |
| A3056 | Isle of Wight Council | 拢2,140,000 |
| A5105 | Lancashire County Council | 拢920,000 |
| A5038 | Liverpool City Council | 拢859,375 |
| A186 | Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council | 拢3,650,000 |
| A6130 | Nottingham City Council | 拢950,000 |
| A609 | Nottingham City Council | 拢475,000 |
| A4158 | Oxfordshire County Council | 拢800,000 |
| A4165 | Oxfordshire County Council | 拢875,000 |
| A2047 | Portsmouth City Council | 拢1,300,000 |
| A6022 | Rotherham Metro. Borough Council | 拢750,000 |
| A6042 | Salford City Council | 拢743,750 |
| A4030 | Sandwell Metro. Borough Council | 拢750,000 |
| A625 | Sheffield City Council | 拢1,425,000 |
| A3025 | Southampton City Council | 拢875,000 |
| A13 | Southend-on-Sea Council | 拢3,425,000 |
| A1156 | Suffolk County Council | 拢1,275,000 |
| A25 | Surrey County Council | 拢1,800,000 |
| A439 | Warwickshire County Council | 拢1,320,000 |
| A3102 | Wiltshire Council | 拢6,980,000 |
Total: 拢47,569,375
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