Women in UK face highest risk of dying on rural road

WOMEN in the UK are more likely to be killed in an accident on a rural road than those living in Europe, a road safety report for MPs reveals today.

It warns that women have a disproportionately higher risk of dying on the nation’s country lanes compared to roads ‘almost anywhere else in the EU’.

By contrast, men are more likely to die in road accidents in towns and cities, according to the report commissioned by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

Experts say this could be because women are more dependent on their cars than men when living in rural areas, where homes and shops are further apart and public transport is scarce.

The study also said that although Britain’s roads are ‘among the safest in the word’, this is not the case for ‘vulnerable’ road users

Highest risk in Europe

such as pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists, where Britain has a relatively poor record.

It said this indicates that improvements in road safety over the last ten years ‘have not been evenly spread’ – and that the Government ‘must do better’.

The report by the Transport Research Laboratory calls for ministers to investigate why a disproportionate number of women are dying on country roads. It said: ‘A death on a rural road is more likely to be female than almost anywhere else in the EU.’

The authors also warned that though rural roads carry just 53 per cent of traffic, they account for 66 per cent of road deaths – making country lanes 25 per cent riskier than the average road.

They added: ‘The UK has a higher proportion of rural road deaths at junctions than another country but for the Netherlands.’