The Department of Transport (DfT) has announced that drivers across England will benefit from a further £38.3m investment.
The £38.3m aims to deliver improvements on 17 roads of the most high risk roads in England and comes on top of the £147.5m DfT has added to improvements on 82 high risk roads across England.
Over a 20-year period, DfT report that the changes will see significant reductions in fatal and serious injuries, up to as much as a 30.8% reduction on some roads.
Improvements will include:
- Designing new junctions and roundabouts
- Improving signage and road markings
- New road surfacing and landscape management
- Improved pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes
Transport secretary, Mark Harper, said: “Britain’s 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.
“As part of the government’s plan to improve roads across the country, we’re providing an extra £38 million so that local councils in England have the support they need to keep everyone safe while reducing congestion and helping to grow the economy.”
This round of funding is expected to save 385 lives over the next 20 years, as well as reduce congestion, improve journey times and lower emissions.
According to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF), it is estimated that all tranches of the Safer Road Fund will save nearly 2,600 fatal and serious injuries over the next 20 years.
Once the costs are factored in for maintenance across the life of the schemes, the overall benefit cost ratio of the investment is estimated at 5:3, meaning for every £1 invested, the societal benefit would be £5.30.
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Executive director of RSF Dr Suzy Charman said: “The Safer Roads Fund is a transformational initiative for road safety and for the local authorities receiving funds.
“It makes it possible for road safety teams across the country to proactively address risk of death and serious injury for all road users on these routes.
“Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example, seat belts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen.
“In the same way, we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away – by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.”
Achievements and innovations in road safety solutions will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations are open now! Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
