Three north-east roads among most dangerous in UK for young drivers

Fraserburgh

Montrose

PERTH AND KINROSS

PROCEED WITH CAUTION: The north-east can lay claim to the three most dangerous roads for young Ff drivers north of Perth, as marked here in blue.

Three of the UK’s 20 most dangerous rural roads for young drivers can be found in the north-east, according to new research conducted by the AA.

The AA Charitable Trust looked at more than 70,000 young drivers between the ages of 17 and 24 who had been involved in crashes across the UK on country roads from 2013 to 2018.

Those who conducted the study have created an interactive map of the results, showing the relative risk of collision for young drivers on rural roads all throughout England, Wales and Scotland.

The worst road found for the percentage of all crashes, or the relative risk, was in County Durham in north-east England.

But the 12th worst under this criterion across the UK was the A980 Banchory to Alford road, where 27 collisions were noted during the recording period.

Of those, 13 young drivers.

At number 13 in the list was the A97 from Banff to Huntly, where 25 crashes were recorded, and 12 of the incidents involved motorists aged 17 to 24.

The A941 Rhynie to Craigellachie road was at number 14 on the list, and had 13 collisions. involved

Six of them involved younger motorists.

The AA study, funded by the Road Safety Trust, also includes locations of all fatal incidents, as well as those involving serious or slight injuries, complete with location.

It analysed the time and days of crashes, and found the proportion of collisions on rural roads on Sundays is 24% higher for younger drivers than it is for other ages of motorists.

All of the data produced in the research will be shared with local councils to help highlight routes and sections of roads which pose the greatest risk in order to help inform potential safety improvement work.

Edmund King, director of the AA Charitable Trust, said: “This groundbreaking analysis shows, for the first time, the most dangerous rural roads for young drivers as well as an indepth study of contributory factors involved in those crashes.

“Many young drivers and indeed parents are unaware that rural roads pose a specific and significant risk to young drivers and potentially are much more dangerous than motorways or urban roads.

“The fact is that 71% of fatal car crashes involving young drivers take place on rural roads.

“The research should help target driver education at the times and places young drivers are most at risk.

“Our data clearly shows that the rural road risk is highest for the youngest drivers on our roads and decreases with each year of age.

“This is a clear sign greater education and exposure to rural roads helps alleviate the risks they pose.

“This is just the first stage in what we plan to be an ongoing campaign to really improve the education of young drivers on rural roads.”