89% drop in fatalities
On one of Britain’s most dangerous roads
(and rated most improved UK road by EuroRAP)
(and rated most improved UK road by EuroRAP)
Thanks to the installation of SolarLite road studs
It’s the changing pace of road safety. A road once under speculation for its poor safety record has been re-categorised from a medium-high risk rated road in 2004-2006 to a low-medium risk rated road in 2007-2009.
The 11km stretch of the A4128 through Buckinghamshire leading from north Great Missenden to south High Wycombe has been awarded the top spot in the 15 most improved roads in the 10th edition of the annual EuroRAP report Simple Measures Save Lives.
To download the full copy of the report, click here.
And it’s no coincidence that this stretch of road is also the site of an Astucia SolarLite road stud installation, a significant safety measure within an overall safety scheme initiated by Buckinghamshire County Council.
Collectively, the 15 most improved roads contributed to a 62% drop in crashes over 3 years – falling from 494 fatalities to 190. A mere 1% of roads surveyed qualified to score a top 15 position.
EuroRAP or European Road Assessment Programme, is an international not for profit association dedicated to saving lives through safer roads. The programme aims to reduce death and serious injury through a programme of systematic testing of risk, identifying the major shortcomings that can be addressed by practical road improvement measures.
This year, the annual report found that out of the 95% of 7,000km UK roads mapped and tracked, the majority are getting safer with some authorities doing well.
The report’s darker side however points at worrying statistics and an unresponsive approach to road safety resulting in social and economic strain. Crashes have been reported to cost up to 2.3% of GDP and only 1% of Britain’s motorways and A-roads have shown significant reduction in fatal and serious crashes.
Unsettlingly, only 50% of motorways reach the 4-star rating, 73 people on average are killed or seriously injured on UK roads daily and a staggering 91% of single carriageways fail to reach adequate standards for run-off incidents.
EuroRAP have stated that head-on collisions, which account for 20% of lives lost, on these single carriageways are prevented only by road markings. It’s a recipe for delineation – something Astucia do remarkably well.
In fact, Astucia SolarLite road studs have already proven to reduce road accidents by 70% on UK installations. The studs themselves are entirely sustainable – charging and activating by natural sunlight alone. Visibility is also 10 times greater than traditional cats eyes and the time for a driver to react to an approaching hazard is enhanced from 3.2 seconds to 30 seconds when driving at 60mph.
Concluding the report is the ethos that the UK should seek to achieve minimum safety levels on busy high-risk roads. The top 15 improved roads overall saved £56 million annually and countless lives.
Reassuring it may be, but the fact that we’re 5 times more likely to die driving on a UK road than pursuing any other daily activity remains.
Of course, it’s impossible to prevent all accidents – and unrealistic to think darkness, rain, fog and glare don’t impair our alertness, yet as Simple Measures Save Lives so rightly stresses, it’s time we sought simpler solutions to ensure we arrive at our destination safe and sound – rather than to the tune of ambulance sirens.
And what could be simpler than installing a stream of SolarLite road studs?