Scots A roads are UK’s most deadly routes

SCOTLAND’S A-roads are the most dangerous in Britain, with motorists three times more at risk of death or serious injury than in other parts of the UK.

According to a study of nearly 28,000 miles of highway, the most perilous road is an eight-mile stretch in Fife which has seen 11 fatal or serious crashes in only two years.

The research calls the A909 from Burntisland to Kelty ‘Scotland’s most persistent high risk road’.

Half of all Britain’s road fatalities are concentrated on only 10 per cent of the network, according to the report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).

Crashes on Scotland’s main routes cost the nation £1.26billion in the three years between 2011-13 – and that excludes the cost of delays.

There are four roads in Scotland classed as persistently high-risk: the A909; the A809 from Milngavie, Dunbartonshire, to Drymen, Stirlingshire; and the A937 and the A935, which both l i nk Montrose, Angus, to the A90 trunk road. In contrast, Britain’s most improved road is the 13-mile stretch of the A70 between Ayr and Cumnock, Ayrshire. This saw a 94 per cent fall in the number of fatal and serious crashes from 16 in 2008-10 to only one in 2011-13. The RSF partly put this down to the use of mobile speed cameras and variable message signs.

There have also been extensive road re-alignments, junction improvements, cycleway extensions, 20mph zones near schools and major carriageway resurfacing schemes. The report said: ‘The measures were aimed at reducing speed, crashes involving vulnerable road users and crashes at junctions.’

Experts mapped the concentration of risk and social and economic l oss of accidents which, they say, could be cut and eradicated by simple engineering and safety changes.

The accidents in which most f atalities occur involve vehicles leaving the road, while the highest number of serious injuries occur in crashes at junctions.

An estimated 2 per cent of the nation’s wealthcreation in terms of GDP is lost in road smashes, the RSF said, with ‘huge disparity’ between local authorities in terms of costs. Aberdeenshire suff ered most, t aking a £169million hit, followed by Highland at £107million and Midlothian with £101million. South Ayrshire at £23million had the lowest bill.

The RSF said: ‘The fastest improving region is Scotland, whose single carriageway roads now perform above average.’

RSF chief Lord Whitty said: ‘Travel on single carriageway A roads is eight times more risky than on motorways. The most improved roads show how effective small improvements can be.’