RE: Britain's Most Dangerous Roads Revealed
RE: Britain's Most Dangerous Roads Revealed
Wednesday 30th June 2010

Britain's Most Dangerous Roads Revealed

List topped by drivers' favourite - the famous 'Cat and Fiddle' pass



A report by the Road Safety Foundation has revealed Britain's top ten most dangerous roads.

The list is topped by the A537 between Buxton and Macclesfield - the famous Cat and Fiddle route that has recently been earmarked for average speed cameras - although the Road Safety Foundation says that, overall, Scotland has the most dangerous roads, followed by northern England.

The report, which encompasses almost 30,000 miles of A-roads and motorways, also concluded that half of all fatal accidents happen on just ten per cent of Britain's roads, that a third of serious crashes happen at junctions, and that single carriageway roads are statistically six times more risky than motorways.

The report suggests, however, that comparatively small amounts of money spent on specifically targeted improvements can reduce the numbers of incidents significantly.


"Not only can Britain reduce road deaths and serious injuries but, by targeting a relatively small mileage of high-risk roads, we can do so with good economic returns," says Road Safety Foundation director Dr Joanne Hill. "Too often we pay for emergency services, hospitals and care for the disabled rather than taking easy steps to put road design faults right."

The top ten most dangerous roads:

A357 Macclesfield to Buxton - Cheshire/Derbyshire
A5012 Pikehall to Matlock - Derbyshire
A621 Baslow to Totley - Derbyshire/South Yorkshire
A625 Calver to Sheffield - South Yorkshire
A54 Congleton to Buxton - Derbyshire
A581 Rufford to Chorley - Lancashire
A5004 Whaley Bridge to Buxton - Derbyshire
A675 Blackburn to Preston - Lancashire
A61 Barnsley to Wakefield - South/West Yorkshire
A285 Chichester to Petworth - West Sussex

Author
Discussion

louismchuge

Original Poster:

1,644 posts

205 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
I'd guess there a lot of motorbikes in derbyshire?

muffinmenace

1,095 posts

209 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
louismchuge said:
I'd guess there a lot of motorbikes in derbyshire?
And now not very many motorcyclists

TheRoadWarrior

1,241 posts

199 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Wasn't this story trotted out last year as well?

Biggriff

2,312 posts

305 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Shock News! A road used by bikers for fun has highest death toll. End of News. Now over to some other glaringly obvious statement

Greenwich Ross

1,219 posts

194 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
And by 'dangerous' they mean 'exciting'.

driving

CJE

26 posts

202 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
I'd put my money on all those roads being in a poor state of repair.

But they will all have speed camera's on them costing thousands to install and maintain for which people simply slow down for denoting them pointless.

How about spending that money improving lines of sight, removing potholes, fixing bad surfaces or widening sections to allow safe overtaking when stuck behind the inevitable supermarket van/bus/scared or dawdling driver struggling round the tight lanes?

Smooth better flowing roads also reduce CO2 in a whole variety of ways from fuel use to component wear. See there's even a worthwhile green aspect to idea of taking better care of our roads.

Just wish someone would listen.... grumpy

jimbro1000

1,619 posts

305 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
CJE said:
I'd put my money on all those roads being in a poor state of repair.

But they will all have speed camera's on them costing thousands to install and maintain for which people simply slow down for denoting them pointless.

How about spending that money improving lines of sight, removing potholes, fixing bad surfaces or widening sections to allow safe overtaking when stuck behind the inevitable supermarket van/bus/scared or dawdling driver struggling round the tight lanes?

Smooth better flowing roads also reduce CO2 in a whole variety of ways from fuel use to component wear. See there's even a worthwhile green aspect to idea of taking better care of our roads.

Just wish someone would listen.... grumpy
Go and read the source article properly and you'll find that they are talking about visibility, high-friction anti-skid surfaces, etc rather than any mention of speed cameras which are not a cheap option - especially with the withdrawal of government funding for them.

It also points out the most of the fatal accidents occur in the summer with dry weather and good visibility and the large percentage of accidents envolve motorcyclists (car vs bike is always going to be one sided)

Edited by jimbro1000 on Wednesday 30th June 11:58

Bruniep

71 posts

194 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
All bar one is 'oop North'. More Southern bias?

Ved

3,917 posts

196 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Drive. To. The. Conditions.

ALL roads are dangerous, it's only plebs doing 80 on mountain roads in the wet that ruin it for the rest of us.

RB Will

10,600 posts

261 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Cool I can carry on driving like a nutter down here in Wiltshire then.

Bungleaio

6,553 posts

223 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Greenwich Ross said:
And by 'dangerous' they mean 'exciting'.

driving
Exactly, they've basically pointed out all the good roads.

tomvcarter

1,091 posts

214 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
A285 Chichester to Petworth - West Sussex

Is that everyone ragging it down to Goodwood?

Steve_F

872 posts

215 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
'Overall Scotland has the most dangerous (best??) roads' yet none of them appear in the top 10. Disapointing!

Nano2nd

3,426 posts

277 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Cat and fiddle already has avg speed cameras!

sprinter1050

11,550 posts

248 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Bungleaio said:
Greenwich Ross said:
And by 'dangerous' they mean 'exciting'.

driving
Exactly, they've basically pointed out all the good roads.
Yep. I was going to say what a coincidence -those top five i thought were the "Best" roads rolleyes

Nano2nd said:
Cat and fiddle already has avg speed cameras!
But I've seen suggestions that they're not actually working ! (yet- maybe)

JR

14,011 posts

279 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Not so much Derbyshire just Buxton.

GreatGranny

9,519 posts

247 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
The 2 on the list that I drive regularly (A621 & A625) are both in good condition and some have been partly resurfaced in the last 5 years. There is only 1 speed camera that I can think of and that's on the A625 on the outskirts of Sheffield in a 50 limit.

After a double fatality on the A625 a few years ago there was calls for lower speed limits, speed cameras etc but the cause of the crash was down to a defective tyre causing the car to skid on the damp road whilst entering a tight bend.

Driver error has been the cause of all the accidents on that stretch of road.

timewatch

881 posts

215 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
Scottish road conditions are a disgrace!!!

Eg; on an alternative back road recently the Council put speed humps down the length of the road and
fancy bollards + kerb stones between the speed humps at a cost of thousands of pounds, THEN left the F'KN great big 6" deep pot hole in the centre of the road where all this work was done. They left the original road surface untouched, Now what kind of fking moron would do and pass such a disgraceful job????

It beggars belief, and that's only one example of total incompetence and a gross waste of funds!

Yes a root and branch rout of all road departments, plus common sense thinking needs to be employed to these areas.

NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TW>>>

NotNormal

2,400 posts

235 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
tomvcarter said:
A285 Chichester to Petworth - West Sussex

Is that everyone ragging it down to Goodwood?
It is a great road for driving (when you can get a stretch with no dawdlers) but the disaster it seems to throw up afaik is pretty much all down to the bikes. They are like little Kamikaze pilots and judging by the amount of near misses i've seen with them i'm not really surprised at the amount that end up in the weeds.

I have family that live in the area and they say its almost a weekly occurance that a bike ends up in some sort of accident, especially at weekends when they go out in packs.

oagent

2,114 posts

264 months

Wednesday 30th June 2010
quotequote all
This is pretty conclusive proof that all motoring in Derbyshire should be banned on health and safety grounds.