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Eurorap 2007 UK Results
3rd December 2007
Eurorap 2007 UK Results – Star Rating Roads For Safety, UK Trials 2006 - 2007
The Highways Agency, which is responsible for safety on England's motorways and major A roads, said: "The Highways Agency invests in maintenance, network improvements and better traffic management on our roads, together with better information to help drivers plan their journeys. We make every effort to improve road safety.
"A third of the Agency's network in England (2354km) was assessed as part of this first trial of motorways, dual and single carriageways.
"According to this trial, the Highways Agency's network (England's motorways and major A roads) has a high rate of safety provision. Of the third of our network that was surveyed, more than 99 per cent of motorways and 76 per cent of A roads scored 3 stars or above.
"The results of this study cannot to be read in isolation, as they do not show the network's accident record or safety performance. Instead the Road Protection Score (RPS) provides another way of managing and improving safety, by looking at what is already in place or is needed on the network to mitigate the outcome of an accident.
"The safety performance of England's motorways and major A roads continues to improve despite the continuing growth in road transport. We are on track to achieve the Government’s target for safety of a 33 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured by 2010. U.K. roads remain amongst the safest in the world and this has been achieved through continual work in all areas of road safety.
"We are not complacent and work continues to reduce the number of deaths and injuries on our network still further. Working with independent organisations, such as EuroRAP, is just one example of how committed we are to gathering new information, which we could use.
"We keep the safety of all routes constantly under review, recording accident rates on our network to get reliable data. We work closely with the Police, and study carefully their reports into the causes of accidents.
"The results from this trial could be used to help us to direct our resources to improving safety on network: one of our key priority areas."
Notes:
The Star rating roads for safety, UK Trials 2006-07 Road Protection Score report is available online at http://www.eurorap.org/conferences/pressroom.html - this report does not necessarily represent the views of the Highways Agency.
The Highways Agency worked with EuroRAP to identify and measure factors that influence the severity of an incident on UK highway networks. However, the report produced by EuroRAP does not necessarily represent the views of the Highways Agency.
Surveys are currently being carried out to complete the remainder of the network - this is planned to be completed in 2008/09.
Issued by the Highways Agency press office.
Media enquiries including out of hours should be made to the Highways Agency National Press Office on 0207 081 7443.
