A new GB Road Safety Performance Index has been launched comparing the performance of the nations, local authorities and police authorities across Great Britain. It shows how weak results over the last decade have led to avoidable deaths and injuries. It is accompanied by a report.
The Index also compares the cost of a ‘business as usual’ scenario for the next ten years with the stronger effort required to reach the United Nations #50by30 global target for a 50% reduction in deaths and serious casualties by 2030.
The Index and Report were commissioned by The Towards Zero Foundation in partnership with PACTS, and the work undertaken by Agilysis Ltd.
Launching the new report, David Ward, President of The Towards Zero Foundation said: “Progress on road safety has stalled over the last decade just as local councils have been given more responsibilities but fewer resources to improve the safety of our roads. A new partnership between national and local government is urgently needed to get UK road safety back on track and ensure that road deaths and serious inquiries are halved by 2030.”
David Davies, PACTS Executive Director commented: “We see significant disparities in the safety record across the road network, depending on who is responsible. For example, Scotland has a long-term target and systematic approach to reduce harm by 2030, which is matched by better performance in casualty prediction. However, this determination is not matched in other parts of the country.”
In 2020, the United Nations General Assembly declared a Decade of Action on road safety and called for member states to work to reduce road deaths and serious injuries to 50% of their current level by 2030. The data presented in the Index will help community leaders and activists to understand the scale of the challenge and the inexcusable cost of failing to act over the coming decade.
The results reveal huge differences in road safety performance over the last ten years, with some areas achieving a 50% reduction in people killed or seriously injured, while in other areas deaths and injuries have seen a sharp rise.
It is notable that performance among the devolved administrations varies significantly, with much stronger performance across Scotland than England and Wales.
The analysis is based upon open data sources provided by the Department for Transport which can be accessed via the data.gov.uk website. You can download the report here and access the new Safer Roads Index here.
