The Road Safety Foundation has claimed that up to 6,000 lives could be saved on Britain's roads over the next decade if just a fraction of the money being spent on road maintenance was used more effectively.
A report put together by the organisation for the RAC Foundation revealed that Britain loses up to £30 billion each year through the cost of road accidents, most of which occur on motorways and main roads.
It showed how, within existing budgets, roads rated only 1-star and 2-star in terms of safety could be improved over the next decade, with benefits worth £25-£35 billion.
The Road Safety Foundation proposed a 10-year safety programme, costing less than 10 per cent of existing road budgets, to bring main roads with safety flaws up to scratch.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "Given that Britons are more likely to die on the roads than in any other daily activity, this report should make us first angry, and then determined to act to see more lives saved – at little or no extra cost."
"We will never prevent all road accidents but we can do a considerable amount to reduce their effects simply by improving the road environment and making it as forgiving as possible."
"We understand road risks well enough to know how to cut this grim toll of death and injury, yet we fail to implement cheap and effective measures to combat them."
"Why do we continue to tolerate unsafe roads when the cost of bringing the network up to minimum standards is within what we already spend on our roads? It beggars belief that we are not redirecting resources to where they are most beneficial."
Dr Joanne Hill, The report’s co-author and director of the Road Safety Foundation, commented: "Saving Lives, Saving Money shows that we can significantly cut the cost of crashes between now and 2020, with substantial savings for the health services, long-term care, emergency services, businesses and families."
Sub-standard Road Safety Costing Lives And Money
Mon, 04 Apr 2011
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